Mississippi
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
GULFPORT, Miss. — The largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and two of its managers have been sentenced on federal charges of mislabeling inexpensive imported seafood as local premium fish, weeks after a restaurant and its co-owner were also sentenced.
“This large-scale scheme to misbrand imported seafood as local Gulf Coast seafood hurt local fishermen and consumers,” said Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney for southern Mississippi. “These criminal convictions should put restaurants and wholesalers on notice that they must be honest with customers about what is actually being sold.”
Sentencing took place Wednesday in Gulfport for Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc., sales manager Todd A. Rosetti and business manager James W. Gunkel.
QPS and the two managers pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to conspiring to mislabel seafood and commit wire fraud.
QPS was sentenced to five years of probation and was ordered to pay $1 million in forfeitures and a $500,000 criminal fine. Prosecutors said the misbranding scheme began as early as 2002 and continued through November 2019.
Rosetti received eight months in prison, followed by six months of home detention, one year of supervised release and 100 hours of community service. Gunkel received two years of probation, one year of home detention and 50 hours of community service.
Mary Mahoney’s Old French House and its co-owner/manager Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, pleaded guilty to similar charges May 30 and were sentenced Nov. 18.
Mahoney’s was founded in Biloxi in 1962 in a building that dates to 1737, and it’s a popular spot for tourists. The restaurant pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to misbrand seafood.
Mahoney’s admitted that between December 2013 and November 2019, the company and its co-conspirators at QPS fraudulently sold as local premium species about 58,750 pounds (26,649 kilograms) of frozen seafood imported from Africa, India and South America.
The court ordered the restaurant and QPS to maintain at least five years of records describing the species, sources and cost of seafood it acquires to sell to customers, and that it make the records available to any relevant federal, state or local government agency.
Mahoney’s was sentenced to five years of probation. It was also ordered to pay a $149,000 criminal fine and to forfeit $1.35 million for some of the money it received from fraudulent sales of seafood.
Cvitanovich pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood during 2018 and 2019. He received three years of probation and four months of home detention and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers face pressure to counter looming federal cuts to health care after punting this session
Wicker: Mississippi powered Artemis II
Published 4:00 pm Monday, April 20, 2026
For nine days this month, space travel captivated the world. Families gathered around their screens as four astronauts strapped into the Integrity spacecraft docked at the Kennedy Space Center. As the launch countdown ended, four Mississippi-tested RS-45 engines ignited, and the ground shook. Seven seconds later, the Integrity had liftoff. For six intense minutes, the RS-45 engines rocketed the crew into high Earth orbit, sending them on their historic lunar flyby mission.
Mississippi should take a bow. The four RS-45 engines were tested at our very own Stennis Space Center, where Mississippians have been ensuring the quality of rocket engines since the Apollo program. For eight years, engineers, safety managers, and logistics specialists from the state have tested the engines that powered the Integrity and will power future Artemis launches. Their work paid off, and the launch was a marvel of engineering. NASA leadership made special mention of the rocket engine burn, calling it “flawless.”
One Mississippian in particular helped make the mission a success. Hernando native Matthew Ramsey handled a great deal of responsibility as the mission manager for Artemis II. The Mississippi State University graduate helped set the focus for the mission and equip the astronauts and staff for the job. Matthew also served as the deputy of the Mission Management Team, the group of NASA staff that comes together just days before a launch. The team assumes the risks of the mission ahead, and they make tough calls during flight if challenges arise.
As the Artemis II journey progressed, the world could not stop watching. Our social media feeds were full of photos and videos beamed down from the heavens. They captured humorous situations, such as the astronauts adjusting to life without gravity or testing their plumbing skills.
We also witnessed moments of majesty. On the fifth day, the Integrity began using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot our astronauts back home. That trajectory led the crew around the Moon, farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone. As the explorers looked upon outer space, they captured stunning images. Among the most remarkable is Earthset, in which Commander Reid Wiseman photographed Earth as it appeared to fall below the horizon of the moon.
When their spacecraft returned to Earth’s atmosphere, the crew was traveling nearly 35 times faster than the speed of sound. Ten minutes later, a series of parachutes began opening. Eventually, the spacecraft’s speed fell to 20 miles per hour, and the crew splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
Mississippi was once again there to assist. The astronauts were greeted by the USS John P. Murtha, a U.S. military vessel built in the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. The ship’s amphibious design was suited to welcome the space travelers home—equipped with a helicopter pad, medical facilities, and the communications system needed to locate and recover the astronauts safely. Crucially, the USS Murtha was built with a well deck, a sea-based garage that stored the Integrity on the journey to shore.
Artemis II was a resounding success, paving the way for planned future flights. When the Artemis program returns humans to the moon, Mississippi will be there every step of the way.
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