Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Trafficking in Paddlefish
Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Hinsdale, Illinois, man pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to illegally trafficking in paddlefish caviar after being caught in an undercover operation in the Warsaw, Missouri, area. In support of Missouri’s paddlefish conservation efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation conducted a covert investigation, “Operation Roadhouse,” centered on an area known as the Roadhouse in Warsaw. As part of the covert operation, state and federal officers operated a paddlefish snagging business during the 2011 and 2012 paddlefish seasons. Covert officers also sold paddlefish to people who were interested in buying them. Fedor Pakhnyuk, 41, of Hinsdale, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to trafficking in paddlefish and paddlefish eggs in violation of the Lacey Act. Pakhnyuk admitted that he traveled to Missouri in April 2...