Jail Time For Employee Over Black Skimmers

On April 14, 2023, at the Collier County’s 20th Judicial Circuit, Criminal Division, Renardo Sebastian Stewart was charged on five counts with the violation of: “Level Two FWCC Rule or Regulation First Offense” (379.401(2)(b)1 and received a sentence of 10 days Jail Time; Probation time of six months and 50 hours of community service to be served concurrently. Stewart entered a plea of nolo contendere (does not contest the charges) to all five crimes and was granted “Adjudication Withheld” from the Court.

On January 9, 2023, at approximately 1400 hours, FWC Officer Jessica Conroy with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was dispatched to the “reported killing of five Black Skimmers in Marco Island on the beachside of the JW Marriott Hotel.” According to her report, “upon arrival multiple Marco Island PD officers had the deceased birds (five); had marked off the area with evidence tape; the alleged defendant detained with multiple witnesses nearby.”

Mr. Renardo Sebastian Stewart, an employee of JW Marriott was charged with five counts (one for each dead bird) of Violation of Florida Administrative Code pertaining to endangered or threatened species – designation of endangered and threatened species; prohibitions [68A-27.003].

According to the FWC incident report taken on January 9th, two witnesses stated that they had an unobstructed view of exactly what happened to the five deceased birds. Witness number one stated that he watched the driver of the blue Yamaha golf cart and observed that the operator was getting very close to the flock of Black Skimmers resting on the beach and then heard the golf cart engine revving while moving directly towards the flock. He witnessed the operator drive directly through the flock and run over the Skimmers that were not able to move out of the way in time. 

Witness number two observed the same events as witness one however when he confronted the golf cart driver later, he was told by the operator “the birds should move.”

The FWC incident report also added that “According to JW Marriot Manager, Mr. Michael Tepper, Mr. Stewart was trained not to go near the shore birds and to avoid all people, objects, and animals while driving the company golf cart. He also said Mr. Stewart had been an employee of the hotel for approximately 14 months and utilized the golf cart for most of the working hours.”

On January 20, 2023, Stewart was also served with violating 10 City of Marco Island Code Ordinances for the incident. These violations are in addition to the five charges filed by FWC.

According to Marco Island Police Chief Frazzano, “We will schedule his Magistrate date once he has completed the criminal matter.”