I don't know - the article kind of makes me question their motives. They started off with two rescues - great. They accidentally bred, happens to the best of us sometimes. They didn't rehome the babies, they sold them, for $10-$15. They decided that breeding was a good idea, so began selling rabbits for meat (which is odd for a rescue-turned-breeder to be pumping out meat animals). Begin getting better lines in their rabbits so start selling them for show and petland offers to buy from them, so they sell them to a chain pet store.
I would be interested in more information on the care of the rabbits and maybe some names of the people who offer such praise to the families care of them. They say "a judge" rather than "John Doe, judge of X rabbit show" ... anyone can say "well, a judge said our rabbits were cared for". Without more information, the things they did say, raise red flags on me about the family's breeding practices. But, they could be good breeders, I would need to hear more about them to decide.
I have nothing against GOOD pet stores, or good breeders. I am just wary of most of them, because there are so many bad ones out there.
But, no matter if their breeding practices were good or bad, the fine is ridiculous. If they were a backyard breeder, there are better ways to shut them down than an obscure law about selling more than $500 a year in rabbits.