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South SF Seafood Deliveryman Convicted Of Trading Fish For Crack

REDWOOD CITY (CBS/AP) -- A former deliveryman for a South San Francisco seafood company is facing two-and-a-half years in prison for exchanging a load of fish for crack cocaine and abandoning his employer's truck.

Byron Duane Bates pleaded no contest to felony auto theft Tuesday as part of a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to drop two embezzlement charges.

South San Francisco police said the 44-year-old Bates was supposed to deliver a truckload of fish worth $10,000 to the Sacramento area on Oct. 14. Customers called his employer, the Newport Fish Company, in the afternoon saying their orders had not arrived.

The truck was found abandoned in Oakland four days later with a small amount of rotten fish in it. Bates told police he had traded it away for $400 of crack.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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