MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Fond du Lac County bartender in a sweeping investigation into allegations that people around Lake Winnebago have been illegally processing sturgeon eggs into caviar.
Online court records show Shawn Wendt, a bartender at Wendt's on the Lake restaurant in Van Dyne, was charged Feb. 5 with two misdemeanor counts of illegally selling game fish.
He faces up to a year in jail if convicted of both counts. According to court documents, Wendt told a conservation warden in January 2020 that he processes his friends' sturgeon eggs into caviar and keeps some in return to serve at his restaurant.
State and federal law prohibit bartering or selling sturgeon eggs.
