Two South Florida shark divers thought they were doing the right thing.

But John Moore Jr. and Tanner Mansell were charged with theft and convicted in late 2022 for rescuing sharks and a goliath grouper from what they believed was an illegal fishing longline.

Last week, President Donald Trump pardoned the two men, erasing their criminal records in a case that their lawyers and critics viewed as “government overreach.”

Their legal odyssey began on Aug. 10, 2020, when Moore and Mansell saw the longline three miles off the Jupiter Inlet, freed the 19 sharks and the grouper from its hooks, and brought the line to shore. The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged the men with theft, and a jury found them guilty after deliberating for three days — longer than their West Palm Beach federal trial.

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