Houston restaurateur caught up in illegal seafood network investigation

Bruce Molzan Bruce Molzan Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Houston restaurateur caught up in illegal seafood network investigation 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Wednesday that it has cited prominent Houston chef and restaurateur Bruce Molzan with buying large quantities of protected fish from a network of unlicensed commercial fishermen that may rank as the largest in Texas history.



State officials said a two-year investigation indicates that since as far back as 2013, Molzan "funneled" 14 tons of illegally caught finfish through his current restaurant, the paleo-skewed Ruggles Black that's a darling of professional athletes, and the eco-friendly Ruggles Green fast-casual spots he founded but from which he separated in October. The separation occurred when North Carolina investment company Hargett Hunter Capital Partners bought a majority interest in the chain.



The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates that sales of illegally caught fish — including red snapper, tuna, amberjack, grouper and red drum from a network of about a dozen unlicensed commercial fishermen — may have netted Molzan's restaurants a profit estimated at more than $400,000. Texas game wardens, the U.S. Coast Guard and special agents from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have cooperated

in investigating the alleged scheme.



Molzan could not be reached for comment. But his attorney, Joel Androphy, describes the Class C misdemeanors his client faces as "the equivalent of a traffic ticket."



According to a statement from Androphy, "the actual charges against Bruce Molzan and Ruggles in this investigation are buying from an unlicensed fisherman, not running an organized illegal operation as being falsely reported. We are challenging these allegations in court and expect them to be dismissed."



Hargett Hunter moved to distance the firm from the citations involving against Ruggles Green.

"In no way were any of these practices taking place when Hargett Hunter purchased the company," said spokesperson Jessica Nunez. "And (the practices are) not happening as they own the company today."



Nunez said Ruggles Green abides by sustainable seafood practices, and illegal seafood sales "is not something we'd ever be affiliated with."



So far, game wardens have issued more than 200 Class C misdemeanor citations in the matter, including to Molzan and his current or former businesses. Those citations carry a penalty up to $500 apiece.



Fish poached from federal waters are a different story. Two recreational fishermen who were busted off Freeport in April last year with 488 red snapper, a highly regulated species, have been charged with the felonies of lying to a federal investigator and falsifying documents. That incident broke open the case, tying the illegal catch to the larger network alleged to have supplied Molzan's restaurants, Texas Parks and Wildlife said in a statement.



There could be more charges to come.



"Multiple agencies are involved in an ongoing investigation," said Capt. Frank Ruiz, of the Texas Parks and Wildlife. "There are tentacles that go in several directions."

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The citations stand as further troubles for a chef who has attracted more than his share of them over the four decades in which he has been a player on Houston's restaurant scene. Molzan and his then-wife, Susan Molzan, created one of the hottest restaurants of the 1980s at their original Ruggles Grill on Westheimer near the corner of Montrose.



On weekend nights, everybody from socialites to scenesters to the neighborhood's gay gentry could be found inside the rambling, cottagey Ruggles Grill dining rooms. They table-hopped, gossiped about each other and exclaimed over the nine different vegetables — nobody had ever quite seen the like — arrayed on each carefully arranged plate of Molzan's California-inflected Southwestern cuisine.



Those heady times waned as the century turned and the Molzans divorced in 2005. By 2012, he had faced a rare staff walkout as servers struck over unpaid tips, ending in a picket line.



Numerous lawsuits and countersuits trailed Molzan's involvement in other ventures, too, including disputes over a downtown ballpark cafe, Grille 5115 inside the Galleria's Saks Fifth Avenue and Ruggles 11th Street Cafe in the Heights.



A Ruggles Green investor who helped Molzan rebuild the original Ruggles Grill after Hurricane Ike sued the chef over an ownership agreement; and Molzan wound up suing the co-owners who operated Ruggles Green. Molzan invariably blamed the other side.



"I get saddled up and ridden like a Seattle Slew," he told the Chronicle in 2012, referring to the winner of horse racing's Triple Crown. "People jump on your coattails and take advantage."

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The courts will decide the latest allegations against Molzan's business practices, his lawyer said. In the meantime, the Houston restaurant and sport fishing worlds are already picking apart the charges.

Red snapper are among Texas' most iconic sport and eating fish, and they are also among the most highly regulated Gulf species.

The size of the illegal catches the TPWD is citing as part of the alleged poaching scheme seem staggering to recreational fishermen who are limited to two red snapper a day during a nine-day annual season. Commercial finfishing has become so highly regulated in Texas — with the record-keeping and controls enforced at every step along the path of legal fish on their way to market — that illegal commercial fishing has declined over the years.



Fourteen tons of illegal fish looms large from both a law-enforcement and a fisheries standpoint, Parks and Wildlife officials said. Health and safety concerns are at issue, too.



"This is a big deal," said Col. Craig Hunter, TPWD law enforcement director, who noted the case "exemplifies the critically important work our Texas game wardens do to protect the state's natural resources. Not only did these unscrupulous actors violate recreational fishing regulations at an extreme level for personal profit, but they also circumvented restrictions and rules governing the possession, safe handling and sale of commercial aquatic products intended for human consumption."



Bryan Caswell, executive chef and co-owner of Reef restaurant, said he was appalled to hear about the citations for unlawful fishing.



"It's the antithesis of what I've tried to fight for my entire career," said Caswell, whose Midtown restaurant is known for the Gulf seafood emphasis of its menu.



Last year he and his wife, Jennifer Caswell, founded Southern Salt Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation of Gulf Coast shorelines and wildlife.

"We're both flabbergasted that this may have been going on," said Caswell, an avid recreational Gulf fisherman who said his restaurant business is dependent on a healthy state of the commercial fishery.



Meanwhile Hargett Hunter will forge ahead with plans to expand the Ruggles Green brand with as many as 30 more locations over the next four years, including in Houston. When it comes to seafood, all the i's will be dotted and every last t crossed, Nunez said, and Ruggles Green "will respond to any concerns its customers have about seafood practices and policy."

Greg Morago, Jody Schmal and

Shannon Tompkins

contributed to this story.

This story has been updated.