Illinois Man Sentenced to a Year in Prison for Caviar Sale

An Illinois man has been sentenced to a 12 months in jail after admitting he illegally caught sturgeon and offered the fish roe to a caviar distributor in Tennessee.

Daniel Allen, 44, of Brookport, Illinois, pleaded responsible to violating the Lacey Act, which makes it unlawful to move and promote fish that have been taken in violation of state regulation or regulation.

The shovelnose sturgeon have been caught out of season in 2018 and 2019 utilizing illegally sized mesh nets alongside the Ohio River on the Kentucky-Illinois border, in keeping with U.S. Lawyer Michael A. Bennett’s workplace within the Western District of Kentucky. He additionally caught sturgeon close to the Smithland Lock and Dam in an space closed to business fishing, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.

Kentucky and Illinois each regulate fishing for sturgeon and its eggs, that are marketed as caviar, Bennett’s workplace mentioned.

Allen was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months and in the future in federal jail, adopted by two years of supervision. Allen additionally agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution.