A tourist will be jailed for collecting seashells in Key West, Florida, even though she said she didn’t know it was illegal to take the queen conchs from the water and beach.
Diana Fiscal-Gonzalez of Dallas, Texas, admitted to taking 40 seashells and apologized to Judge Mark Wilson for her actions, the Miami Herald reported. Several children helped her collect the mollusks, which are protected by the state. She said she planned to clean them and give them away as gifts.
Fiscal-Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 days in jail but will not have the sentence adjudicated, so it won’t appear on her criminal record, the Herald reported. In addition, she will be on probation for six months and pay a $500 fine. Her sentence will begin Aug. 10.
The shells contained live mollusks, which is what made their collection illegal, USA Today reported. It also is illegal to kill a live conch. Empty seashells are legal to collect.
An anonymous tipster called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to report Fiscal-Gonzalez, and officer John Martino arrested her after finding her with three containers of mostly live conchs, the Herald reported.
The conch is almost sacred to natives of Key West, who call themselves “conchs,” and the local high school uses the conch as a mascot.
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