MIAMI (AP) — A shark-diving charter boat captain convicted of theft for freeing 19 sharks and a giant grouper from a fisherman’s longline off the coast of Florida says he’s felt like he was living in an alternate universe for the past five years. That changed last week when he received a presidential pardon.

“This is something I never thought I’d hold,” John Moore Jr. said Tuesday, as he showed off the document with U.S. President Donald Trump’s signature scrawled across the bottom.

Moore and crew member Tanner Mansell were convicted in 2022 of theft of property within special maritime jurisdiction. The two men avoided prison time but were ordered to pay $3,343.72 in restitution. The felony convictions prevented them from voting in Florida, owning firearms or traveling freely outside the

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