5 years after the true crime documentary “Tiger King” captivated a rustic shut down by COVID-19, the ultimate authorized troubles for one in every of its most important characters will probably be resolved Tuesday in a courtroom in South Carolina.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle faces as much as 10 years in jail for trafficking in unique animals and cash laundering after pleading responsible in November 2023.
Precisely what punishment prosecutors are asking for and any arguments for leniency from Antle’s attorneys have been stored from the general public earlier than Tuesday morning’s listening to in federal court docket in Charleston.
Three others who pleaded responsible in his investigation acquired both probation or a four-month jail sentence.
Antle’s sentence is the ultimate true-life chapter of the Tiger King saga. The Netflix sequence debuted in March 2020 close to the height of COVID-19 restrictions.
The present centered on sellers and conservationists of huge cats, specializing in disputes between Joe Unique, a collector and personal zookeeper from Oklahoma, and Carole Baskin, who runs Large Cat Rescue in Florida.
Unique, whose actual identify is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving a 21-year federal jail sentence for making an attempt to rent two totally different males to kill Baskin.
Antle, who owns a personal zoo referred to as Myrtle Seashore Safari, appeared within the first season of the documentary and was the star of the third season.
Antle’s zoo was identified for charging tons of or hundreds of {dollars} to let folks pet and maintain child animals like lions, tigers and monkeys that have been so younger they have been nonetheless being bottle-fed. Prospects may have images or movies made. Antle would generally journey into excursions on an elephant.
Myrtle Seashore Safari stays open by reservation solely, in keeping with its web site. Antle has remained out on bail since his arrest in June 2022.
Antle’s federal expenses have been introduced after the Tiger King sequence.
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Prosecutors stated he offered or purchased cheetahs, lions, tigers and a chimpanzee with out the right paperwork. They usually stated in a separate scheme, Antle laundered greater than $500,000 that an informant informed him was getting used to get folks into the U.S. illegally to work.
Antle was used to having giant quantities of cash he may transfer round rapidly, investigators stated.
The FBI was listening to Antle’s telephone calls with the informant as he defined a child chimpanzee may simply value $200,000. Personal zookeepers can cost tons of of {dollars} for images with docile younger primates or different animals, however the revenue window is barely open for just a few years earlier than the rising animals can now not be safely dealt with.
“I needed to get a monkey, however the folks received’t take a test. They solely take money. So what do you do?” Antle stated in keeping with a transcript of the telephone name in court docket papers.
Two of Antle’s workers have already been sentenced for his or her roles in his schemes.
Meredith Bybee was given a yr of probation for promoting a chimpanzee whereas Andrew “Omar” Sawyer, who prosecutors stated helped Antle launder cash, was given two years of probation.
Jason Clay, a Texas non-public zoo proprietor, pleaded responsible to illegally promoting a primate and was sentenced to 4 months in jail, whereas expenses have been dropped towards California ranch proprietor Charles Sammut.
Antle was additionally convicted in 2023 in a Virginia court docket of 4 counts of wildlife trafficking over gross sales of lions and was sentenced to 2 years of jail suspended “upon 5 years of fine habits.” An appeals court docket overturned two of the convictions, ruling that Virginia regulation bans the sale of endangered species however not their buy.
Antle was discovered not responsible of 5 counts of animal cruelty at that very same Virginia trial.
