02:29 PM PST on Wednesday, March 2, 2005

By KGW reporter Vince Patton

When the limousine driver pulled up at a Bally's Fitness Center in southeast Portland Wednesday morning, he thought he was picking up a customer. Instead police picked up him.

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An example of some of the poached sturgeon collected by police.

Aleksandr Gregoryan, 57, of Milwaukie, was handcuffed on the spot.

Oregon State Police believe he was part of an organized ring selling poached sturgeon and caviar harvested from the Columbia and Sacramento rivers.

A grand jury in Marion County indicted Gregoryan and Ivan Usoltseff, 72, and his wife Mariya Usoltseff, 58, of Woodburn, on racketeering charges. A fourth man, David Chechlnitsky, 38, of Portland, turned himself in to the Marion County Jail on Feb. 8, also for racketeering.

The indictments follow a two year investigation into the illegal sale of sturgeon and their eggs. Undercover officers infiltrated the interstate network and bought white sturgeon meat at two dollars per pound and caviar eggs at $90 per pound.

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An example of some of the caviar harvested from the Columbia and Sacramento rivers.

A 34-page search warrant obtained by KGW-TV two years ago documented a trail of illegal sales of sturgeon, salmon and caviar from the Usoltseff's home in Woodburn. At one point an OSP freezer had more than 500 jars of red caviar, from salmon. Agents also bought black caviar from sturgeon which is even more valuable.

"These folks are pretty secretive," said Sgt. Chris Allori of Oregon State Police. "They're not easy to locate. They're not easy to find what they're doing so it took a lot of surveillance."

Populations of sturgeon have been declining in recent years and are protected by some of the strictest fishing regulations on the Columbia River. Anglers may keep only five sturgeon each year.

The fish grow to enormous sizes, over 6 feet long, but do so slowly. A sturgeon will not reach maturity to reproduce until 20-years-old. Biologists consider it a severe blow to the species to take a mature female sturgeon and its eggs out of the population.

Allori says the four defendants face Class A Felony racketeering charges. He suspects the illegal caviar and sturgeon sales continue.

"We know from this investigation we have an issue with commercialization. We want to know how much is really going on out there and we really need the public's help," he said.

Oregon State Police has a telephone tip line at 800-452-7888 and urges the public to call in to report poaching and other wildlife crimes.