A member of the United States Coast Guard was indicted on conspiracy charges, Thursday.

There are seven counts in the indictment against Morris Wade Hughes, 50, of Chesapeake.

Between November of 2003 and December of 2006, Hughes allegedly had a relationship with a corporate officer of a commercial fishing corporation.

The indictment alleges Hughes accessed government databases and unlawfully shared information with the corporate officer.

Hughes also allegedly told the officer to instruct her foreign-born workers to leave ID documents at home during fishing trips, and claim to be United States citizens if boarded. That way, the Coast Guard could not enforce statutes related to aliens on fishing boats, according to the indictment.

Hughes faces a maximum of five years in prison on the conspiracy count, and up to one year in prison on each of the other six counts.

Among those other charges are four counts of unauthorized access of a government computer and two counts of dissemination of confidential information.