KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — The owner of a crabbing boat that was converted into a floating strip club off the shore of an Alaskan island has been found guilty of illegally dumping human waste into a harbor.
Darren Byler on Wednesday was found guilty in federal court of illegal dumping of sewage and lying to federal authorities about it. The jury found his wife Kimberly Riedel-Byler not guilty of the same charges. Prosecutors say Byler piped raw sewage from bathrooms aboard the 94-foot “Wild Alaskan” into the Kodiak harbor instead of taking the waste 3 miles offshore. The Bylers told the Coast Guard they were properly disposing of the waste.
Byler is scheduled to be sentenced in March.
He faces maximum fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and years in prison.
