Geoduck smuggler gets 14-year term
The king of Washington poachers, a smooth-talking fisherman who led a smuggling ring that stole at least $1.2 million in geoducks from Puget Sound, was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge John McCarthy levied the stiffest penalty in state history against Doug Tobin, saying his criminal operation, which in two years made off with nearly 200,000 pounds of the state's signature long-necked clam, demonstrated "a great deal of sophistication" and greed.
"We often lose sight of crimes against our natural resources," McCarthy said. "These types of crimes — I think they're hard to track and probably difficult to prove, and don't have a great deal of pizazz," but they are harmful.
While the Sound holds some 300 million geoducks, a state biologist told the court that geoduck populations in a few South Sound areas may have been damaged by Tobin's heavy poaching.
Sporting a goatee and a silver mane pulled straight back over his head, Tobin, 51, apologized to his family, then thanked the court for being kind during his 20-month stay in the Pierce County Jail.
Tobin's sentence ends a nearly decadelong saga that started when the talented fisherman jumped into the Sound's legal, lucrative geoduck business. Washington's $40 million-a-year geoduck industry supplies clams to restaurants and groceries in the United States and Asia, primarily for use in sushi or chowder.
Tobin, of Fife, Pierce County, had long been known to state and federal wildlife-enforcement agents as a smart, capable fisherman who frequently bent fishing rules. When he suddenly approached them in the mid-1990s complaining that the geoduck industry was riddled with crime, they agreed to take him on as an undercover informant.
At the time, geoducks were fetching $10 or more a pound, and overwhelmed fish cops were catching geoduck poachers trading clams for drugs, running illegal operations out of their cars, and forging documents to ship illegally obtained clams over the border into Canada. Tobin, a funny, likable man who also had a violent criminal history that included manslaughter and assault convictions, offered to help the cops get close to poachers.
Over the next several years, Tobin wore secret recording devices, went on raids with the cops, and helped send to prison a geoduck poacher who'd paid to have a hit man break a rival geoduck salesman's legs.
But by 2000, detectives increasingly were hearing rumors that Tobin was using his 42-foot boat, The Typhoon, to sneak out at night and poach geoducks himself.
State detectives Ed Volz, Bill Jarmon and Kevin Harrington began investigating Tobin — angrily convinced they had helped him learn the ropes.
The detectives spent hundreds of hours tailing Tobin. They watched from shore as his crew, using radar and night-vision goggles, went out poaching in South Puget Sound in total darkness. They strung Tobin along as they learned their informant was poaching geoducks, then using the clams in undercover stings and asking the state to reimburse him.
"He had more gall than you'd ever imagine," said Volz, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife detective.
Tobin was finally arrested in March 2002 and, last April, pleaded guilty to more than 35 crimes, including being a felon in possession of a gun. He entered the court yesterday planning to argue that prosecutors shouldn't push for more than a minimum sentence of seven or eight years.
But Tobin's attorney, Allen Ressler, didn't push the argument, fearing that, with Tobin's criminal record, the judge might give him the maximum of 20 years. Instead Ressler conceded that the sheer volume of geoducks Tobin stole was enough to warrant an exceptional sentence, and simply agreed to the 14 years.
A restitution hearing also is scheduled for next month — the state contends Tobin owes more than $1 million, an amount he has disputed.
Tobin had a final request yesterday before agreeing to the sentence: He met briefly with state fish and wildlife detectives, and he unloaded a list of others he said were committing crimes in the geoduck industry.
"He was angry that he was going to do so much time, and there are still other poachers out there," Volz said, and shrugged. "We no longer trust him. But we'll check it out."
Tobin's daughter, 21-year-old Stacey Tobin, complained that the sentence seemed extremely long for what amounted to theft of clams.
"He's an excellent father, and this has been really hard on his health," she said, crying.
But Jarmon, another fish detective, was pleased — especially after hearing the judge's remarks.
"We're hoping this will serve as an example to others out there who might be contemplating illegal activity," Jarmon said. "Greed doesn't pay."
Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com