In addition, Orville Kugler, Jr., 33, and Peter McGregor,31, both of Wisconsin pled guilty to two felony counts each of the Lacey Act for illegally taking fish commercially from the State of Michigan waters of Lake Michigan and transporting them back to Wisconsin.
Lacey Act penalties provide for a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to five years imprisonment for each felony conviction of illegal interstate commercialization of fish, wildlife, or plants.
All three subjects were employees of Whitefish Bay Fish Company, LTD., of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
The investigation of this matter was conducted by the United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Mike Weaver in conjunction with the State of Michigans Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, the State of Wisconsin Departments of
Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division. The matter was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas O. Martin.
The subjects were indicted by the Federal Grand Jury on eight Lacey Act felony counts in February 1994. The indictments charged that the subjects made a total of eight trips into Michigan waters from Wisconsin to take fish illegally. Voight, Kugler, and McGregor were arrested by Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers and their boat seized.
The arrests led investigators to evidence of eight additional trips into State of Michigan waters by the subjects to take fish illegally. A total of over 14,900 pounds of fish, retail valued at $37,560 were taken illegally.
In addition to the maximum fines and jail that may be imposed the three subjects must pay restitution to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the fish.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
