Alex Rodriguez Needed a Media Miracle. Cue the Maryland Watermen

You thought steroids in Major League Baseball was a travesty? Well, maybe you didn’t, but the media wants you to, so let’s go with it for a second. It still pales in comparison to the lowlives that are Maryland watermen, who have been coming up on illegally-caught striped bass and hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2003.

Five watermen pleaded guilty this morning in federal court to poaching more than $2.1 million dollars worth of striped bass from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River as part of a black market.

With wives and family members watching, the men—four from Maryland and one from Virginia—admitted to U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte that they falsified catch records, fished out of season and lied about the species they caught to supply fish to wholesalers.

Thomas Crowder, 40, of Leonardtown, admitted that using 15 different fishing permits, he stole fish with a fair market value of $956,285.

Keith Collins, 57, of Deale, pleaded guilty to using 22 different permits to poach striped bass with a fair market value of between $600,000 and $750,000.

Black market? Fake fishing licenses? And you thought Alex Rodriguez was a G for getting some Boli out of the Dominican?

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