Calais Man Pleads Guilty to Lying to Feds

Calais Man Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements

Bangor, Maine – In a shocking turn of events, Clyde Eldridge, a 65-year-old resident of Calais, Maine, has pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal agents.

According to court records, Eldridge owned C&E Feeds, a feed and pet store in Calais. In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Canadian counterpart, Environment Canada, were investigating the illegal use of the pesticide cypermethrin.

On September 23, 2010, when asked by two EPA special agents to identify anyone to whom he had sold cypermethrin and whether he had kept records of the sales, Eldridge said he sold different amounts of cypermethrin to different people and that he did not keep track of the sales.

However, the investigation revealed that Eldridge sold cypermethrin on 10-11 occasions to one regional production manager employed by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd., a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture, and that on each occasion Eldridge made a note of the quantity picked up by the manager.

The investigation also revealed that Cooke Aquaculture pled guilty in New Brunswick Provincial Court in 2013 and paid a $490,000 fine for illegally using pesticides that killed hundreds of lobsters in waters that were about a mile from Maine’s border.

Eldridge faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced after completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The investigation was conducted by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and Environment Canada.

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