BATON ROUGE - Agents with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries cited a man accused of stealing crabs from traps that didn't belong to him.

Tracy Bruce, 46, was cited for theft of crab traps, taking commercial fish without a license, taking commercial fish without a commercial gear license, using crab traps without required markings, illegal removal of contents, and operating an unregistered motorboat.

Authorities received a complaint that Bruce was fishing multiple traps belonging to other fishermen. On August 2, agents stopped Bruce after watching him run traps he didn't own.

At the time Bruce was in possession of approximately two dozen crabs, 46 crab traps of which 40 didn't belong to him, and he didn't have the proper licenses. Bruce admitted to the agents that he had fished many of the traps that day and on other occasions.

After the incident, agents returned the crabs to the water.

According to the wildlife department theft of crab traps, illegal removal of contents, and using crab traps without required markings each carry a $400 to $500 fine and up to 120 days in jail for each offense.