WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal prosecutors say a North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to charges that he falsely labeled $4 million worth of foreign crabmeat as produced in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice says Phillip R. Carawan, of Columbia, admitted Tuesday to falsely labeling more than 179,000 pounds of crabmeat and selling it to wholesale membership clubs and other retailers.
A department statement says Carawan also admitted that he and his company, Capt. Neill’s Seafood Inc., couldn’t meet customer demands for domestic blue crab. It says he made up the difference by using crabmeat purchased from South America and Asia. He also admitted that as early as 2012, he had company workers repack foreign crabmeat into containers labeled “Product of USA.”
Carawan is scheduled to be sentenced in January.
