Phoenix-based company labeled Vietnamese catfish as grouper, says indictment A federal grand jury in Mobile has accused executives of a Phoenix seafood supplier of passing off Vietnamese catfish as more-expensive fish to customers throughout south Alabama and northwest Florida. The 28-count indictment names three defendants: Karen L. Blyth, president and treasurer of CSE Inc. and president and chief executive officer of RF Inc.; David H. Phelps, vice president of those two companies; and John J. Popa, a Pensacola resident who serves as vice president of RF Inc. Phoenix-based CSE imported seafood under the name Clear Seas, while Pensacola-based RF Inc. was a distributor that sold the seafood to customers in the Pensacola and Mobile areas. The defendants could not be reached for comment Friday. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious offenses. According to the indictment, Blyth, Phelps and Popa conspired to falsely label, smuggle and misbrand more than 325,000 pounds of seafood to avoid tariffs imposed by the U.S. Commerce Department on Vietnamese-raised basa, swai and sutchi catfish from January 2004 to November 2006.
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