The third of four Maryland watermen involved in a vast striped bass poaching scheme was sentenced in federal court Wednesday, with the judge saying he wanted to send a message about the seriousness of the crime.

Kent Conley Sadler, 31, of Tilghman Island, was ordered to spend 30 days in jail and pay $25,000 in fines and restitution for his role in the Chesapeake Bay scheme.

Sadler worked with two other Tilghman Island watermen, William J. Lednum, 41, and Michael D. Hayden Jr., 43, who took more than 92 tons of illegally caught striped bass worth nearly $500,000 from the bay from 2007 to 2011, according to prosecutors. Sadler pleaded guilty to his role, which involved helping Lednum and Hayden take more than a quarter of that illegal catch.

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