President Trump pardons Florida divers who cut 19 sharks free from longline
President Trump pardons Florida divers who cut 19 sharks free from longline
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Great white shark splashes close to shore
Drone footage captured a great white shark swimming along the beach in Montauk, New York.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL — President Donald Trump pardoned two Florida shark divers convicted of theft for cutting 19 sharks and a goliath grouper free from a fisherman's line they falsely assumed was illegal.
The May 28 pardon granted full clemency to both John Moore Jr. and Tanner Mansell, who spotted the longline 3 miles off the Jupiter Inlet on Aug. 10, 2020, and pulled it ashore. The gear alone cost the vessel owner about $1,300 while the value of the lost sharks amounted to several thousand more.
"Whether people believe in his politics or not, he chose to pardon me — somebody who deeply cares for the environment and only ever wanted to help," Mansell said in a text after his pardon. "I can't help but feel extremely grateful."
Defense attorneys Marc Seitles and Ashley Litwin, who helped secure the men's pardon, said the decision to charge them anyway was a clear case of government overreach.
While the two avoided prison time, their pardons mean they are no longer felons, restoring their rights to vote, own firearms, and freely travel abroad.
USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment.
Why did they cut the sharks loose?
Moore and Mansell said they thought they were doing the right thing by confiscating the line and releasing the sharks snagged by its hooks. The two said it is the reason they called state wildlife officers to report the line, and why they snapped photos as they freed the sharks and pulled the gear from the water, which were later used against them in court.
Who did the longline belong to?
The 3-mile longline belonged to one of only five vessels in the world permitted by NOAA to harvest sandbar sharks for research.
Scott Taylor, captain of the boat the longline belonged to, called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and sought a criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors argued that the divers knew the line was legal and sabotaged it anyway to preserve shark populations for their commercial interests.
When were the pair convicted?
Moore Jr. and Mansell were found guilty on Dec. 2, 2022, after jurors deliberated for three days — longer than the trial itself.
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks later sentenced the pair to one year of probation and ordered them to pay $3,345 in restitution to the Fort Pierce fisherman whose equipment was destroyed.
Why was their prosecution questioned?
Trump wasn't the first to question Moore and Mansell's prosecution. During a 2024 hearing in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, two judges asked why the men were charged with a crime.
Judge Barbara Lagoa said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Watts-Fitzgerald prosecuted the men "for reasons that defy understanding." She compared him to Inspector Javert — the relentless lawman from "Les Misérables" who pursued a man for decades over the theft of a single loaf of bread.
"Moore and Mansell are felons because they tried to save sharks from what they believed to be an illegal poaching operation," Lagoa wrote. "They are the only felons I have ever encountered, in eighteen years on the bench and three years as a federal prosecutor, who called law enforcement to report what they were seeing and what actions they were taking in real time.'
But the court held that, under federal law, it was enough that the divers intentionally took property that wasn't theirs.
"Often in criminal defense, it's a long road where you feel like you're banging your head against the wall and no one cares," Litwin said. "This felt that way."
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