Repeat wildlife offender found guilty of falsifying records for his commercial fishing business
- Natalie Buttner
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
Michael Duby represented himself in a trial that was the culmination of more than five years of legal proceedings
By Natalie Buttner
Juneau Independent
A Juneau man convicted of numerous hunting and fishing violations during the past 24 years has been found guilty on eight additional charges in a commercial fishing case dating back more than five years.
Michael Duby, 51, whose previous cases include killing federally protected birds and an illegal bear baiting station, was convicted by a jury Thursday on four felonies and four misdemeanors involving his commercial fishing company. Charges involved illegal catching and selling of fish, falsifying fish tickets, and selling clams without a permit and required tests for potentially lethal toxins.
The violations occurred in 2019 and 2020, and he was represented by three different attorneys in the case before deciding to represent himself. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 15.
Duby, in an interview while the jury was in deliberations, said his decision to continue fishing despite receiving harsh punishment for previous wildlife offenses was an act of passion.
“My sport fishing rights were taken away, and I was never able to do that, but fishing is my passion, and I was still allowed to commercial fish,” he said. “So I studied the commercial fishing regulations extensively, for, I don't know, five or six years before I could do it, and I felt that this was a means where I could easily follow these rules. It’s very complicated, but this is very doable, and I felt that long as I'd be very careful, I wouldn't get myself into this situation again. Obviously, that didn't happen.”
Duby’s criminal record includes convictions in federal and state courts.
In 2002, he was found guilty of unlawfully hunting game birds in Washington state. In 2012, he was convicted in federal court for killing and hunting black-billed magpies, a species protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, after a two-year investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In federal court in Juneau, Duby was saddled with five years’ probation, a $2,500 fine, 250 hours of community service work, and a five-year revocation of his hunting and fishing privileges, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The same day, he was convicted in Alaska state court for six misdemeanor charges related to establishing a black bear bait station without a permit, unlawful transportation of game, false application of a hunting license, sport fish guide violations, and falsifying guide reporting requirements. He was sentenced to nine months in prison and fined nearly $44,000. According to statements by prosecutors at the time, the penalties for Duby were among the more extreme for fish and game violations.
In an article published by KTOO after the conviction, Duby expressed remorse for his crimes in the 2012 case.
“I just want to get it by, start over, and show that I can be a good citizen and not break these laws,” he said.
In 2018, Duby pled guilty to unlawful retention of undersized king salmon in Sitka.
The most recent case was sparked in 2018 by a review of Duby’s fish tickets at two seafood processors, Alaska State Wildlife Trooper Jacob Abbott testified during the trial. Abbott suspected Duby had falsified catch totals and that investigation culminated in his pleading guilty to two non-criminal fishing violations in Juneau District Court in September of that year, according to court records.
Further violations were discovered by Abbott involving Duby and his wife, Esther, in 2019 and 2020, according to prosecutors. The officer contacted the couple on their commercial fishing vessel in the Pacific Cod Fishery in April of 2019, and testified he observed them with an abnormal amount of bycatch rockfish.
Abbott later obtained Michael Duby’s logbooks for the season, and noticed discrepancies. According to the prosecution, at this time Abbott could have charged Michael Duby with counts related to misrepresenting his catch on his fishing ticket, but chose to continue the investigation in search of more criminal activity.
The officer’s investigation of the Dubys included warrant searches of Michael Duby, and his associates’ home, phone and business records. Abbott also recorded 1,440 hours of surveillance video footage outside the Dubys’ residence in Juneau from a camera mounted on a utility pole across the street. The evidence was largely responsible for Michael Duby's conviction on Thursday.
In the course of the investigation, Alaska State Troopers also discovered a handgun in the master bedroom of the Dubys’ house. That resulted in Michael Duby, as a previously convicted felon, being found guilty of residing in a dwelling where he knew there was a concealable firearm.
Ultimately, the jury convicted Michael Duby of two state misdemeanors associated with selling personal use fish, and commercially taking demersal shelf rockfish in the Eastern Gulf of Alaska out of season.
In addition, he was found guilty of falsifying fish tickets, forms used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to track commercial harvest of fish. Michael Duby was a commercial fisherman and sold fish through his company, Genesis Seafoods, and therefore false reports on these records resulted in three class C felony charges associated with falsifying business records.
Finally, the jury found Michael Duby guilty of commercially harvesting clams without a permit. As these clams were sold and without undergoing the tests required for commercially harvested clams to prevent possibly lethal illnesses like paralytic shellfish poisoning, Michael Duby was also found guilty of reckless endangerment.
Esther Duby, a state fish and game operations manager, was indicted as an accomplice in the counts related to commercially selling fish taken for personal use, and selling clams without a commercial permit, and reckless endangerment. She was acquitted of all offenses.
“It's our contention that, and it happens a lot, is that really Mr. Duby is the target of this investigation,” said Esther Duby’s defense attorney, Chris Peloso. “They went after Ms. Duby on a couple of things, honestly, I think, to try to get her testimony or to get leverage against him to take a plea deal.”
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Dupuis, with the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions, presented the evidence against the Dubys in front of Superior Court Judge Larry Woolford. In an interview just after closing arguments, Esther Duby struggled to find the words to explain how the past five years of litigation had impacted her family.
“It’s been horrible,” she said. “It’s been overwhelming for our family. It’s been really hard.”
In the videos presented by the prosecution showing the Dubys selling fish from their home garage, Esther Duby holds an infant. According to Michael Duby, his son was six months old when the charges in this case were brought against him, and is now six years old. In the years that this case has been winding through the legal system, he said he had been working doing snow removal and as a handyman.
Michael Duby, in referring to eventually representing himself at trial, said the case “pretty much cost me everything that I had.”
He hypothesized that the case may have taken six years because his attorneys “were dragging it out.” The trial itself was more prolonged than was expected as the proceedings were halted on account of winter storms in Juneau and for New Year’s Day.
Michael Duby, while the jury was deciding his fate, said there were some things he wished he’d done better in his defense.
“I don't feel like I did a very good job of presenting what I wanted to, but if I get a chance to do it again, I could do it better,” he said. “But we're not talking about too much. We're glad that this part's over. Actually, we trust the jury, actually, on this one.”
• Contact Natalie Buttner at natalieb@juneauindependent.com.
