Diver convicted of freeing sharks off Florida coast says he was surprised by presidential pardon

MIAMI AP A shark-diving charter boat captain convicted of theft for freeing sharks and a giant grouper from a fisherman s longline off the coast of Florida says he s felt like he was living in an alternate universe for the past five years That changed last week when he received a presidential pardon This is something I never thought I d hold John Moore Jr commented Tuesday as he manifested off the document with U S President Donald Trump s signature scrawled across the bottom Moore and crew member Tanner Mansell were convicted in of theft of property within special maritime jurisdiction The two men avoided prison time but were ordered to pay in restitution The felony convictions prevented them from voting in Florida owning firearms or traveling freely outside the U S Moore reported he and his attorneys were surprised by the pardon because they hadn t petitioned for one We didn t reach out to the White House Moore announced We never approached them for a pardon because that was kind of skipping moves like we had authentically filed the paperwork to take this to the Supreme Court Moore and Mansell spotted the longline about miles kilometers off the Jupiter Inlet in August according to court records Believing it was an illegal fishing line the men freed the sharks and a grouper broadcasted it to state wildlife agents and brought the line back to shore Federal prosecutors later charged the men with theft Administrators disclosed the line belonged to a fisherman licensed by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to catch sharks for research Mansell and Moore were convicted by a jury and their appeals were later denied The full and unconditional pardons signed by Trump erase those convictions Would I have done something different now that I know that that was a legal line Moore demanded I was a commercial fisherman I would never touch a legal line But now I know more about this that those things can exist