9 arrested in ‘major’ sturgeon poaching ring on Sacramento River, wildlife officials say
Nine suspects have been arrested after an investigation by California wildlife officers uncovered a “major” illegal sturgeon poaching operation taking place on Sacramento Valley waterways including the Sacramento River, state officials announced this week.
The investigation also turned up several illegal firearms, more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and counterfeit cash.
Officers in May 2021 began investigating Andrew Chao, 31, and Ay Pou Saechao, 35, both from Oakland, accused at that time of catching sturgeon, removing their eggs and selling them to a San Francisco family that processed the egg roe into caviar for sale on an illegal market, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a Thursday news release.
Then in January, officers began investigating Chao and Saechao for allegedly poaching sturgeon from the Sacramento River, near Knights Landing in Yolo County, according to the news release.
“On March 14, officers performed a traffic stop and found an 85.5-inch white sturgeon in the back of Chao’s vehicle,” wildlife authorities wrote. “Chao was arrested on additional charges of conspiring to poach sturgeon and possession of an oversized sturgeon.
“In this case, the fish was still alive, and officers successfully returned it to the water after quickly taking evidence photos.”
While investigating the case, officers found a link connecting the two suspects to “another simultaneous investigation involving multiple sturgeon poaching suspects,” according to the news release. Wildlife officers conducted surveillance and observed that group of suspects catching at least 36 sturgeon.
Officers on March 30 served a search warrant that netted nine arrests: Chao and Saechao; Huan Van Nguyen, 72, of Elk Grove; and Sacramento residents Lai Chow Saechao, 34, Ou Hin Saetern, 37, Sengon Saechao, 32, Andy Serncho Saephanh, 35, Nai Fow Saechao, 39, and Choy Gwen Saephan, 32.
The nine men face an array of charges that include conspiracy to poach sturgeon, unlawful possession of sturgeon, possession of oversized and/or undersized sturgeon, sturgeon tagging violations and the unlawful sale of sturgeon caviar and meat.
Authorities also discovered five illegal firearms including a fully-automatic handgun, a “ghost gun” without a serial number and an “unlawfully possessed” AR-15 assault rifle, according to the news release.
“Officers also found illegal narcotics intended for sale, including more than 1,000 pounds of illegal cannabis, and more than $57,000 in cash and counterfeit currency,” the news release continued.
Some of the men were also found in possession of “at least five unlawfully possessed deer” as well as abalone. California banned recreational abalone fishing in 2017 due to “ongoing extreme environmental conditions,” and the state Fish and Game Commission has twice extended the closure, now in place through at least April 1, 2026.
Additionally, wildlife officers during their surveillance observed “dozens of counts of littering, as the suspects routinely discarded their beverage containers and food wrappers” into the Sacramento River, authorities wrote.
Fish and Wildlife investigators will present their findings to district attorney’s officials for prosecution.
“Wildlife trafficking, coupled with suspected narcotics trafficking discovered in this investigation, is motivated by greed and personal profit,” David Bess, a deputy director for Fish and Wildlife and the chief of its law enforcement division, said in a prepared statement.
“We take it seriously when poachers commercialize our wildlife, and we will continue to do everything we can to bring these individuals to justice.”
California sturgeon in danger amid poaching, drought
Two sturgeon species are native to California: white sturgeon and green sturgeon. The recently arrested suspects are accused of poaching white sturgeon, which are the largest freshwater fish in North America, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
White sturgeon are categorized as a species of special concern in California, and green sturgeon have been listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2006.
Bess in Thursday’s release said California’s native sturgeon population is “already severely affected by historic drought conditions.”
Green sturgeon evolved over the eons to travel from the ocean to the mountains every few years to spawn and deposit the large troves of eggs the females carry before swimming back downstream to the Pacific. They are only able to spawn in a short stretch of the Sacramento River, due to dams ringing the Central Valley.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife asks anyone who witnesses poaching to contact its tip line at 888-334-2258.
Bay Area caviar investigation
The Department of Fish and Wildlife in Thursday’s news release said Chao and Saechao were initially investigated in 2021 for selling sturgeon eggs to Igor, Lyudmila, Yevgeniy and Olga Petryanik of San Francisco.
Wildlife authorities said Chao and the four members of the Petryanik family are facing poaching charges in a case still pending prosecution.
No additional details on that pending case were immediately available.
