RICHMOND, VA— An investigation
was recently completed
by the Virginia
Department of Game &
Inland Fisheries (DGIF)
Marine Theft and Fraud
Unit into the activities of
a person suspected of
selling fraudulent boater
education documents by
advertising his services
on Craigslist. The suspect
conducted his scheme in
the City of Portsmouth.
Virginia law
requires that a boat operator
take a boater education
course before operating
certain vessels on the
waters of the
Commonwealth of
Virginia. One class that
meets the requirements
of this law, is a no cost
on-line course provided
by BOATUS as a service
to the boating public. In
this case, the suspect was
advertising on the internet
to sell fraudulent
boater education certificates
to individuals for a
fee. This would allow the
purchaser to operate
boats and if checked by
law enforcement would
appear to have passed the
boater education course
by displaying his certificate
when checked on the
water. The seller of the
certificates actually
assumed the identity of
the customer who paid
him to take the course for
them. After taking and
passing the on-line
course for the customer,
he would meet or mail
the certificate to the individual
in exchange for
being paid. In some cases
purchasers also paid for
certificates for their
spouses or children as
well as themselves.
An undercover
Special Agent with DGIF
arranged for the seller to
take the course for him
for a fee and met him
afterwards to pay for and
obtain the boater education
certificate. As a
result, search warrants
were obtained for computer
records and the
identities of those people
who had purchased the
certificates were identified.
Follow-up investigations
led to the seizure of
dozens of fraudulent
boater education documents
seized from those
who did not take the
course.
The seller of the
documents, Richard C.
Harrell of Portsmouth,
was charged in
Portsmouth with sixteen
counts of obtaining
fraudulent documents to
make a false status under
18.2-204.1 Code of
Virginia. This is a Class 1
misdemeanor and carries
up to 12 months in jail
and a $2,500.00 fine- or
both. Harrell was prosecuted
by Portsmouth Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Hall. A
plea agreement was
reached and the suspect
pled guilty to three
counts of that charge and
received 3 years in jail,
which were suspended,
and he was given 3 years’
probation.
Additionally, 24
other adults were
charged with possession
of fraudulent documents.
These individuals later
pled to violating 29.1-
735.2 which makes it
against the law to operate
a boat without the
required boater education
safety course. As a
penalty, they were
required to pay a civil fee
to the DGIF Motorboat
Safety Fund. The purchasers
were tried in the
cities of Portsmouth,
Virginia Beach, Suffolk
and Chesapeake as well
as the counties of Henrico
and Isle of Wight.
"As the
Commonwealth’s boating
safety agency, it is
important for boat operators
to actually take the
required safety course so
they will be safer operators
of their boats, making
our public waters a
safer place for all to boat
and recreate.” Major
Scott Naff, Assistant
Chief of Operations for
DGIFs law enforcement
division.
To learn more
about boating laws in
Virginia and about boating
safety education
courses, visit the
Department's website at www.dgif.virginia.gov/boating.
Remember, everyone wants to have a
safe, enjoyable day on the
water. Do your part by
wearing your life jacket
and taking a boating safety
education course.
