WORCESTER, Mass. -- Despite orders to destroy thousands of pounds of seafood that spilled from a truck after a highway crash, the seafood was unloaded and sold illegally from the back of a truck at a local restaurant.
A multiple vehicle accident on Rt. 395 south ripped open the refrigerated truck and spilled 11,000 pounds of live lobsters and fish and about 150 gallons of diesel fuel.
Some of the fuel spilled on the seafood in the crash leaving it exposed without refrigeration for hours, prompting Webster's director of public health to order the load destroyed Sunday.
Instead, the lobsters were off-loaded to another rented truck by Robert J. Moscoffian.
Moscoffian claims many of the rescue personnel and Highway Department workers also took seafood from the wreck and that the order to destroy the load was unclear.
Police discovered lobsters being sold at Periwinkles & Giorgio's restaurant from a truck in the parking lot for $3 a pound.
Arnold A. Villatico, owner of Periwinkles & Giorgio's restaurant, denied the charges and claimed they were giving donations to a local veteran's shelter.
Officials seized the truck and freed the remaining lobsters in Boston Harbor.
The Worcester district attorney's office is warning residents not to eat seafood purchased from the back of a truck Sunday night or Monday morning.
(Copyright (c) 2008 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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