Guilty Plea in Paddlefish Caviar Case

First posted on 09-11-2008

Thomas Nix, Jr. of Memphis, Tennessee and formerly of Shell Knob, Missouri, pleaded guilty to illegally taking paddlefish roe and selling caviar.

Nix was indicted on the charges in July. Although sentencing has not yet been set, he could face a $250,000 fine along with up to five years in a federal prison.

A news release from U.S. Attorney John Woods’ office stated: “Nix admitted that, from December 2007 to Feb. 17, 2008, he conspired with another (unnamed) person to engage in illegal commercial fishing for American paddlefish on Table Rock Lake and to illegally take the roe (eggs) of paddlefish, process that roe into caviar, and transport and sell that caviar in interstate commerce.

“Beginning in December 2007, Nix set three gill nets on Table Rock Lake and used a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to mark the location of the nets. Every one to three days thereafter, Nix and his co-conspirator returned to check the gill nets for paddlefish. When paddlefish were retrieved from the gill nets, Nix slit open each paddlefish suspected to contain roe, and extracted the roe from the paddlefish by hand. They sealed the roe in plastic bags and transported the roe to the his residence in Shell Knob, where the he processed the roe into caviar.”

Prosecutors added that Nix, age 39, sold 387 pounds of paddlefish caviar to a Tennessee company for around $36,000.