Former DNR Sturgeon guru convicted in caviar scheme

The former head of the D-N-R’s sturgeon program reaches a plea deal with prosecutors on charges stemming from an investigation into the illegal processing of caviar. Ryan Koenigs is convicted in Winnebago County Court on one count of Resisting a Conservation Warden. Koenigs was accused of taking sturgeon eggs from spearers on the pretense of using them for research–but then giving them to processors to turn into caviar. He was ordered to pay a fine and will not spend any time in jail. Koenigs still has a similar case pending in Calumet County. His defense attorney says Koenigs has been placed on administrative leave from his job as a sturgeon biologist pending the results of an internal investigation by the D-N-R.