Two Palm Beach County men running a tourist shark-diving charter who cut what they believed was an illegal shark fishing line, but was actually an authorized commercial set-up, have been granted clemency by President Donald Trump.

Captain John R. Moore Jr., of West Palm Beach, and his mate on the boat Tanner J. Mansell, of Jupiter, were convicted by a federal jury in 2022 of theft of commercial fishing gear in the federal waters off Palm Beach County. Trump granted them both full clemency Wednesday.

In August 2020, Moore Jr. and Mansell took a group of six tourists less than 10 miles offshore of Jupiter, in federal waters, for a charter trip to snorkel with sharks, federal court records show. Both worked for Florida Shark Diving, a charter company based in Jupiter, and held licenses from the U.S. Coast Guard to operate charters.

Moore Jr. and Mansell took the group to a spot with bull sharks, and they all saw a bright orange buoy as they headed north afterward in the Jupiter Inlet in the afternoon of Aug. 10, 2020, according to transcripts of the court proceedings. Moore Jr. and Mansell told the tourists the fishing set up beneath the buoy was an illegal fishing line, killing sharks and other marine life.

Some of the tourists on the boat documented on their cellphones for several hours what prosecutors argued was an intended crime — Moore Jr. and Mansell pulling in and cutting the fishing line, releasing more than a dozen sharks as they cut, according to trial transcripts. Prosecutors maintained that the tourists were conned by Moore Jr. and Mansell into helping remove the fishing line, thinking that they were saving sharks from an illegal endeavor.

But the fishing set up that they had dismantled that afternoon was owned and operated by a commercial fishing boat, Day Boat III, that was authorized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to research sharks, according to trial transcripts.

The defense said that Moore Jr. and Mansell simply made a mistake and believed what they were doing was intervening with a crime that was already being committed, not intending to commit one themselves, according to court transcripts.

“They were wrong. But they are not criminals,” defense attorney Marc Seitles said in his closing statement at trial. “They made a mistake. But they are not criminals.”

Assistant United States Attorney Tom Watts-Fitzgerald argued in his opening statement at trial that Moore Jr. and Mansell’s motive was that the commercial boat meant competition for their business.

“They want the sharks to be there. They get tips from the passengers,” the prosecutors said. “They get paying passengers to go out. They get nice video to put on their website. They get photos. But if a shark fisherman takes some of the sharks, maybe their job is a little harder.”

The jury returned a guilty verdict for both men, and a judge sentenced them each to a year of probation and more than $3,000 of restitution, federal court records show.

In a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Thursday, Mansell’s and Moore Jr.’s defense attorneys said it was a case prosecutors never should have pursued.

“We are extremely grateful that justice has finally been done for Mr. Mansell and Mr. Moore,” attorney Ian Goldstein said. “This is a case that never should have been filed. I couldn’t be more happy for these two very deserving gentlemen.”

Attorney Andrew Adler, another member of Mansell’s defense team, said in a statement: “The Framers had the foresight and wisdom to include the Pardon Power in the Constitution. This case illustrates why. We are grateful that the President has exercised that power and corrected this miscarriage of justice.”

“I am overjoyed that John has been pardoned,” Moore Jr.’s attorney Alyssa Altonaga said in a statement. “He is a kind, genuine, and hardworking man who only ever wanted to do the right thing, and the government never should have prosecuted him. Finally, after years of injustice, John and his loved-ones will be able to move forward knowing that a great wrong has finally been made right.”

Originally Published: May 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM EDT