Tyner man charged in crab pot thefts

A Chowan County man has been charged with stealing more than 75 crab pots from a Camden County commercial fisherman.

Travis Wade Hollowell, 30, of Tyner, was arrested last weekend and charged with felony larceny and felony possession of stolen property, a press release from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries states. Hollowell also faces charges of misdemeanor possession of stolen property and two counts of misdemeanor larceny and injuring, destroying or stealing crab pot buoys.

N.C. Marine Patrol began investigating in April after being contacted by fisherman Ut Huynh of Shiloh, who reported he was missing 50 crab pots he had set in the Pasquotank River.

A Marine Patrol officer searched for the missing crab pots for weeks but was unable to locate them, Marine Fisheries officials said.

Then in August, an employee of Huynh’s reported the fisherman was missing another 85 crab pots, again stolen from the Pasquotank River.

When Marine Patrol officers searched this time, they found crab pots matching the description of those belonging to Huynh marked as belonging to a “T. Hollowell.” According to Marine Fisheries, the pots had been repainted and sections of the buoys had been cut off.

After obtaining a search warrant, Marine Patrol officers went to Hollowell’s home, where they found the missing buoy sections engraved with Huynh’s boat registration numbers, Marine Fisheries officials said.

At Hollowell’s residence, Marine Patrol officers recovered a total of 78 crab pots valued at $2,140 they identified as stolen.

In addition to the larceny charges, Hollowell was also charged with dealing in crabs without a dealer’s license, Marine Fisheries said. Further charges against him are pending.

Hollowell was arrested by the Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office on Sunday. He was released from jail on an $8,000 secured bond. He was due in court today.