The owner of a Virginia seafood company has pleaded guilty to conspiring to falsely label foreign crabmeat as fresh Chesapeake blue crab.
James Casey, 74, of Poquoson, who owns Casey's Seafood in Newport News, entered the plea Wednesday in federal court. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing Jan. 9.
Prosecutors say the company mixed discount "distressed" crabmeat from Indonesia, Brazil and elsewhere with Chesapeake blue crab, labeling it a "Product of the USA" and sometimes crabmeat sold as Chesapeake blue crab contained only foreign meat.
Court documents state that from 2012 and 2015 Casey's Seafood sold about 360,000 pounds of falsely labeled crabmeat worth $4.3 million at wholesale prices in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.
