Southeast
Diver who freed sharks gets Trump pardon after felony conviction stuns him: 'My heart sank'
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A Florida-based diver thought he was doing the right thing when he freed a group of sharks—but instead, it led to a felony charge and, years later, a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
On May 28, Tanner Mansell and John Moore Jr. were two of the sixteen recipients of Trump’s full pardons after the pair were convicted in 2020 of theft of property within special maritime jurisdiction.
Mansell, 31, of Jupiter, Fla., reflected on the fateful day leading to his conviction and the eventual unexpected pardon from the White House.
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Tanner Mansell, 31, of Jupiter, Fla., was granted a Presidential Pardon from Donald Trump in May 2025. (Used with Permission via Tannerunderwater)
In April 2020, Mansell and Moore took a group, which included the Kansas City police chief and a SWAT officer, and encountered a buoy connected to a longline over a dive site. A longline is a type of deep-sea fishing gear with baited hooks to catch fish.
“It was just another ordinary day on the water,” Mansell said. “I had been running trips there for years and never had anything like this happen. I spotted something red in the distance thinking that, you know, maybe it was trash or a diver,” he said. “We saw that it was a buoy connected to a line, which is when we started calling law enforcement.”
Unaware that the longline belonged to a legally sanctioned National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shark research operation, Mansell and his team acted swiftly and cut the line. They released 19 sharks back into the ocean.
“I had no idea that this could be possible, you know, that you could have a permit to kill all these sharks,” he said, noting that they had called the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) and NOAA’s hotline before making the decision.
“In our mind, the entire time, we thought we were uncovering a crime rather than committing a crime,” he said.
Tanner Mansell leads shark exhibitions and is passionate about conservation efforts. (Used with Permission via Tannerunderwater)
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That belief quickly unraveled. Days later, Mansell said he received a call while out to dinner.
“I just felt like my world came to a stop, my heart sank,” he said. “We called [law enforcement], we did everything that we could.”
Despite their outreach to law enforcement, both divers were charged and convicted. While they avoided prison time, they were ordered to pay $3,343.72 in restitution, and the felony convictions prevented them from voting, owning firearms and traveling freely.
“The judge made a comment, and he commended us for our dedication to [the] environment,” he said. “He gave out what my lawyer said was probably the lowest sentence ever.”
Looking back, Mansell said he would have acted differently if he had known the law surrounding legal shark killings.
“Knowing what I know now, I absolutely would do things completely differently,” he said. “But if I didn’t know that there were permits for this, I don’t think that I would change anything… when you think you’re doing the right thing, you think you’re doing the right thing.”
President Donald Trump pardoned a Florida diver who freed a group of sharks. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
“We were really surprised to get the pardon,” he added. “It wasn’t really discussed by my lawyers because it was so far down the line.”
A turning point came when the case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and Judge Barbara Lagoa confirmed what Mansell believed throughout the legal process.
“She basically said … this should’ve never gone forward … she’s never come across a criminal that has called enforcement to report what they’re doing in real time,” he said.
Publicity from that opinion reached the libertarian Cato Institute, which published an article that eventually caught the attention of the White House.
“The White House actually called our lawyers and said that they were looking into this and asked for more information,” he said. “That was really cool because our lawyer called us that the White House had it in front of them and were looking into it.”
TANNER MANSELL’S PRESIDENTIAL PARDON – READ IT: APP USERS CLICK HERE
Mansell learned of his pardon while boarding a plane, sharing he was left “speechless” from the news.
“I was getting a call from my lawyer and I answered, and he says, ‘Well, I’ve got good news for you. You just got a full presidential pardon.’ I was speechless. I couldn’t even say thank you. I just soaked it in.”
Mansell profusely thanked the White House and Trump for the pardon.
“All I can say is thank you. And I hope that, you know, maybe in the name of sharks, we can all take a look at what’s happening and say that [legal killings of sharks] shouldn’t be happening in Florida.”
“I’m just so grateful. I have said thank you every step of the way. Words can’t explain it,” he said. “I know that the White House took a look at this and they decided it was worth it. And I got President Trump’s signature.”
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Though the felony remains technically on record, Mansell said the practical implications of the pardon allow him to continue his work.
“The felony is fully forgiven so now I can vote, and I can own a firearm from what I understand,” he said. “And most importantly, it expedites getting travel visas for my work in conservation.”
Tanner Mansell shared that he was shocked when learning he was the recipient of a Presidential Pardon following his 2020 conviction. (Used with Permission via Tannerunderwater)
Asked how his view of government and justice had evolved, Mansell admitted, “At first, I was like, I lost a lot of faith in it. I felt like it was just unfair, but now I’m thankful for the due process.”
“I’ve learned so much through this process,” he said. “I’ve always considered myself a law-abiding citizen, somebody that doesn’t break the law and I respect law enforcement and commercial fisherman.”
“I got through into this political battle between commercial fisheries and shark diving tourism and it’s tough, but now I’m on the other side,” he said. “At first I lost a lot of faith in the criminal justice system and now, a bit of that faith in the justice system is restored. There are a lot of checks and balances for a reason.”
Mansell remains committed to shark conservation and hopeful his case will raise awareness.
“This case never should have been filed,” Mansell’s attorney, Ian Goldstein, said in a statement. “These gentlemen made an honest mistake and were trying to save sharks from what they believed to be an illegal longline fishing setup. I can’t think of two individuals more deserving of a Presidential Pardon.”
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Southeast
Experts warn of biggest ‘scandal in litigation system’ if SCOTUS doesn’t nix landmark energy pollution case
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FIRST ON FOX: A landmark Supreme Court case set to decide whether Big Oil entities can move coastal erosion suits out of local and state courts and cement them in federal courts, as localities continue to seek billions from domestic oil companies, will have far-reaching repercussions, experts said.
Last year, a jury in coastal Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, ordered Chevron to pay more than $740 million for wetlands damage linked to operations by its former subsidiary Texaco in the mid-20th century.
While the Supreme Court case does not seek to overturn the fine and was filed before the Louisiana ruling, a decision by the high court could carry multibillion-dollar implications, several legal experts said.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
As Chevron argues the suits it is facing in certain Gulf Coast communities — where critics claim some local and state officials are in cahoots against them and aligned with friendly attorneys for the municipalities — many damage claims stem from World War II-era fuel production carried out under federal contract. The companies say that the link to the federal government, along with alleged local bias, means future cases must be heard at the federal level.
Plaquemines Parish argued the claims involve environmental harm that is beyond the control of Washington — meaning that the high court’s decision could reshape where massive suits against Big Oil can be heard; as many companies also seek to ramp up production in line with President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance agenda.”
“There is thus no denying that these petitioners are being sued in state court for production activities undertaken to fulfill their federal refining contracts,” a brief filed by Chevron and ExxonMobil said, in part.
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Prominent NYU law professor Richard Epstein said Wednesday that Plaquemines Parish has pointed to massive erosion dating back to the 1920s amid increased wartime operations, while also citing hurricanes’ devastating impact on the bayou’s already fragile landscape.
Companies used the area to produce “AvGas” for wartime aircraft, and that Louisiana officials calculated the erosion in the billions of gallons, but added that comparisons made to the BP Oil Spill were different because “pollution is very different than erosion.”
“Nobody wishes to deny it, but it had nothing to do with it. So what you do is you have the Supreme Court dealing with a very technical question,” he said.
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“Local bias issue is extremely powerful, which is why you have that statute. It’s the same reason why we have diversity jurisdiction; the home court advantage is really huge and there’s no place where it’s worse than in Louisiana — so you get the bias, you get these jury verdicts, which are completely wacko as far as I can tell,” he said.
He faulted Louisiana officials for siding with plaintiff’s lawyers in the fine-related case to oppose “anything that they bring into court” on such matters, calling it an “outright mischarge of duty” that requires high court intervention.
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Epstein said he is “reasonably confident” that the court will reverse a lower court’s ruling that the parish is the proper legal jurisdiction, warning that if not “it’s a bigger scandal than I think we’ve ever seen in terms of the litigation system.”
Mike Fragoso, an attorney at former Attorney General Bill Barr’s firm Torridon Law, said that there are more than 40 cases filed that allege oil and gas companies have caused erosion through exploration activities in the Gulf; totaling billions of dollars in claims.
Those hefty figures should be a warning against so-called “hometowning” — or the dynamic in which local juries tend to side with their neighbor plaintiffs and against “outsider” companies, Fragoso said.
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“The idea is to prevent local judges and juries from hometowning federal officials as they’re doing the work of the federal government,” he said.
“And Chevron’s view is that because they were in the AvGas business, at the direction of the federal government in World War II, they belong in federal court. The state of Louisiana and the plaintiffs disagree.”
While a supporter of U.S. energy development, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry sided with Plaquemines as attorney general when the saga began.
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Current AG Liz Murrill said in a statement that “virtually every federal court has rejected Chevron’s attempt to avoid liability for knowingly and intentionally violating state law.”
“I’ll fight Chevron in state or federal court — either way, they will not win,” she added.
John Carmouche, an attorney behind the Chevron case and other pending suits, said the appeal to the high bench doesn’t focus on the merits of the dispute itself.
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“It’s more delay, they’re going to fight till the end, and we’re going to continue to fight as well,” he told The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Duffy exposes 54% of North Carolina truck licenses issued illegally to ‘dangerous drivers’
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday revealed that 54% of North Carolina’s non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued to foreign nationals reviewed by federal officials were issued illegally.
The discovery came amid the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) ongoing nationwide audit of the state’s truck licensing systems.
If North Carolina does not revoke all illegally issued licenses, the Department of Transportation (DOT) will withhold nearly $50 million in federal funding.
“North Carolina’s failure to follow the rules isn’t just shameful — it’s dangerous. I’m calling on state leadership to immediately remove these dangerous drivers from our roads and clean up their system,” Duffy wrote in a statement. “President [Donald] Trump and I are committed to keeping you and your family safe on our roads.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that widespread fraud is allowing illegal immigrants to obtain commercial driver’s licenses, which he said poses safety risks. (Department of Homeland Security)
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In a letter to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Paul Tine, the FMCSA said the state illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs to drivers who were ineligible, those whose licenses were valid long after their lawful presence in the U.S. expired and those whose lawful status in the U.S. was not verified by North Carolina.
FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said the level of noncompliance in North Carolina is “egregious.”
To retain its federal funding, North Carolina will be required to immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with FMCSA regulations and revoke and reissue all noncompliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the federal requirements.
ICE arrested more than 100 foreign national truck drivers in California’s Operation Highway Sentinel after deadly crashes linked to state-issued CDLs. (Department of Homeland Security)
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The state must also conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify all procedural and programming errors, training and quality assurance problems, insufficient policies and practices and other issues that have resulted in the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs that did not meet federal rules.
Duffy set his focus on CDL issues in early 2025 after an Indian national who held a California-issued CDL allegedly killed a car full of people on Florida’s turnpike.
ICE said Akhror Bozorov, 31, a criminal illegal immigrant from Uzbekistan, was issued a CDL from Pennsylvania. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
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California has since revoked 17,000 problematic non-domiciled CDL licenses as DOT conducts a nationwide audit initiated by President Donald Trump’s executive order on truck driver roadway safety.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Naked woman allegedly assaults deputy while intoxicated, claims she was ‘trying to be a mermaid’
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A Louisiana woman’s attempt to go for a skinny-dip did not end swimmingly, authorities said, after she allegedly attacked a sheriff’s deputy responding to a trespassing complaint before finally surrendering to deputies Tuesday.
According to the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched in November to a residence in the Linville community of Marion after a caller reported a neighbor standing in their driveway screaming and refusing to leave the property despite having been warned previously.
When a patrol deputy arrived, authorities said the suspect was found nude and swimming in a pond located on the caller’s property.
The woman was later identified as Erin Elizabeth Sutton, 41, of Marion. Sutton initially refused to exit the pond or speak with the deputy, telling him she was “trying to be a mermaid,” according to a sheriff’s office Facebook post.
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Erin Elizabeth Sutton, 41, is accused of threatening a sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana after being caught skinny-dipping in a neighbor’s pond. She claimed she was “trying to be a mermaid,” according to police. (Union Parish Sheriff’s Office / Getty Images)
After repeated commands, Sutton eventually exited the pond. Due to cold temperatures, emergency medical services were contacted to evaluate her, authorities said.
A blanket was provided, and as the deputy attempted to escort Sutton inside a residence to warm up, she allegedly charged at him.
Authorities said Sutton ignored multiple commands to comply and resisted detention. A taser was deployed but had no effect, according to the sheriff’s office. Sutton was taken to the ground, where she allegedly continued to resist, kicking and punching the deputy before being restrained.
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The Union Parish Sheriff’s Office in Farmerville, La., announced on Facebook that 41-year-old Erin Elizabeth Sutton had allegedly attacked and threatened one of their deputies after skinny-dipping in a neighbor’s pond, citing she was “trying to be a mermaid.” (Google Maps)
Sutton was transported to a hospital for further treatment. During the transport, she allegedly threatened to kill deputies and paramedics, authorities said.
Because Sutton required medical care at the time, deputies later sought arrest warrants, which were signed by a judge in Louisiana’s Third Judicial District Court, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sutton surrendered to deputies on Jan. 6, 2025, and was arrested on multiple charges, including three counts of resisting an officer with force or violence, two counts of public intimidation, two counts of battery of a police officer, disturbing the peace/drunkenness and criminal trespassing.
According to the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched in November to a residence in the Linville community of Marion after a caller reported a neighbor was trespassing. (iStock)
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Her bond was set at $62,000, authorities said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office for additional comment but did not immediately receive a response. It was not immediately clear whether Sutton has retained legal representation.
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