Published: June 04, 2008 12:00 am      

Hotel owner charged in wetlands dredging

TRAVERSE CITY A hotel owner charged with wetlands tampering surrendered to face criminal charges.

Eighty-Sixth District Court Judge John D. Foresman on Friday arraigned Joseph Moffa on two misdemeanors for violation of state wetlands and submerged bottomlands law. Both offenses are punishable by up to one year in jail.

Moffa, 42, allegedly authorized a bulldozer to dredge and move great quantities of Great Lakes bottomlands near the Cherry Tree Inn on U.S. 31 near Holiday Road in East Bay Township.

State and federal authorities who investigated the inn and its owner determined a bulldozer drove as far as 122 feet into East Bay on Thanksgiving weekend in 2006. A pretrial is set for June 12.