MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' top sturgeon expert with obstructing an investigation into allegations that DNR workers have been funneling sturgeon eggs to processors in exchange for jars of caviar.
Ryan Koenigs was charged in Calumet County on Thursday with a misdemeanor count obstructing a conservation warden.
According to a criminal complaint, Koenigs told a DNR warden and a federal agent in January 2020 that he didn't know anything about allegations that DNR workers at sturgeon registration stations were telling spearers they wanted eggs for a scientific study but were sending them to processors in exchange for caviar. Koenigs told the investigators this week that his workers were taking eggs to processors after the research concluded.
