BALTIMORE SUN – The third of four Maryland watermen involved in a vast striped bass poaching scheme was sentenced in federal court Wednesday, with the judge saying he wanted to send a message about the seriousness of the crime.

Kent Conley Sadler, 31, of Tilghman Island, was ordered to spend 30 days in jail and pay $25,000 in fines and restitution for his role in the Chesapeake Bay scheme.

Sadler worked with two other Tilghman Island watermen, William J. Lednum, 41, and Michael D. Hayden Jr., 43, who took more than 92 tons of illegally caught striped bass worth nearly $500,000 from the bay from 2007 to 2011, according to prosecutors. Sadler pleaded guilty to his role, which involved helping Lednum and Hayden take more than a quarter of that illegal catch.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett should be applauded for continuing to send the message that poaching is a serious crime. Federal prosecutors recommended no jail time for Sadler, but Bennett said that to deter similar crimes, it was important to send a message that poachers can expect more than just a financial penalty.

In September 2014, Bennett sentenced Lawrence Daniel Murphy, who also played a relatively minor role in the poaching scheme, to probation and ordered him to pay $40,000 in fines and restitution.

In December 2014, he sentenced Lednum, one of the major players in the poaching conspiracy, to a year and one day in prison and ordered him along with his co-defendant Hayden to pay $498,293 in restitution to the state. Hayden will be sentenced in February.