The real crime documentary “Tiger King” in a country closed by Covid-19, The ultimate legal trouble Because one of its main roles will be settled in a South Carolina court Tuesday.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle faces up to 10 years in prison for trafficking in exotic animals and money laundering. Enfession November 2023.
The exact punishment the prosecutors are asking for, and the argument that there is any leniency for Antel’s attorney ahead of a hearing in the Charleston Federal Court on Tuesday morning.
Three other people who pleaded guilty in his investigation were sentenced to probation or four months in prison.
Antel’s verdict is the last chapter of the tiger king Saga. this Netflix The series debuted in March 2020 near the peak of Covid-19 restrictions.
The show centers on Big Cats’ dealers and protectionists, focusing on the controversy between Joe Exotic, Oklahoma collector and private Zookeeper, and Carole Baskin, who runs Big Cat Rescue in Florida.
The real name of the exotic is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, who has been serving for 21 years Federal prison sentence Trying to hire two different men to kill Baskin.
Antle, who owns a private zoo called Myrtle Beach Safari, appears in the first season of the documentary and is the star of the third season.
Antle’s zoo is known for charging hundreds or thousands of dollars, allowing people to pet and hold small animals like lions, tigers and monkeys that are still young and they are still in bottles. Customers can make photos or videos. Antel sometimes travels on elephants.
According to its website, Myrtle Beach Safari is only open by booking. Antel has been on bail since his arrest in June 2022.
Antel’s federal charges were filed after the Tiger King series.
Prosecutors said he sold or purchased cheetahs, lions, tigers and chimpanzees without proper paperwork. In another plan, they said Antle washed over $500,000 and a informant told him that it was used to make people go to work illegally.
Investigators say Antel is used to having a lot of money and he can quickly move around.
The FBI is listening to Antle’s call with informants because he explained that a baby chimpanzee could easily cost $200,000. Private zoo administrators can charge hundreds of dollars for hundreds of dollars for photos with docile young primates or other animals, but the profit window is only open for a few years to safely handle growing animals.
“I have to keep a monkey, but people don’t have a check. They just take cash. What do you do?” Antel said, according to the telephone transcript in the court documents.
Two of Antel’s employees have been sentenced for their role in the program.
Meredith Bybee received one year of probation for selling chimpanzees, and prosecutors said Andrew “Omar” Sawyer provided Antle with two years of probation for money laundering.
Texas private zoo owner Jason Clay pleaded guilty to illegally selling primates and was sentenced to four months in prison, while California ranch owner Charles Sammut was revoked.
So Convicted in 2023 In a Virginia court, four counts of wildlife trafficking were committed against lion sales and sentenced to two years in prison, with a “five-year conduct” suspended. one Court of Appeal Two convictions were overturned, ruling that Virginia law prohibited the sale of endangered species but did not buy their purchases.
Ants were found guilty of five counts of animal cruelty in the same Virginia trial.
