'Tiger King' twist finds 'Doc' Antle facing prison sentence for animal trafficking
Bhagavan 'Doc' Antle faces up to 10 years in prison for trafficking in exotic animals and money laundering after pleading guilty in November 2023. Exactly what punishment prosecutors are asking for and any arguments for leniency from Antle's attorneys were kept from the public before Tuesday morning's hearing in federal court in Charleston. Three others who pleaded guilty in his investigation received either probation or a four-month prison sentence. Antle's sentence is the final true-life chapter of the 'Tiger King' saga.
The Netflix series debuted in March 2020 near the peak of COVID-19 restrictions. The show centered on dealers and conservationists of big cats, focusing on disputes between Joe Exotic, a collector and private zookeeper from Oklahoma, and Carole Baskin, who runs Big Cat Rescue in Florida. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for trying to hire two different men to kill Baskin. Antle, who owns a private zoo called Myrtle Beach Safari, appeared in the first season of the documentary and was the star of the third season.
Antle's zoo was known for charging hundreds or thousands of dollars to let people pet and hold baby animals like lions, tigers, and monkeys that were so young they were still being bottle-fed. Customers could have photos or videos made. Antle would sometimes ride into tours on an elephant. Myrtle Beach Safari remains open by reservation only, according to its website. Antle has remained out on bail since his arrest in June 2022.
Antle's federal charges were brought after the 'Tiger King' series. Prosecutors said he sold or bought cheetahs, lions, tigers, and a chimpanzee without the proper paperwork. And they said, in a separate scheme, Antle laundered more than 500,000 dollars that an informant told him was being used to get people into the US illegally to work. Antle was used to having large amounts of money he could move around quickly, investigators said. The FBI was listening to Antle's phone calls with the informant as he explained a baby chimpanzee could easily cost 200,000 dollars. Private zookeepers can charge hundreds of dollars for photos with docile young primates or other animals, but the profit window is only open for a few years before the growing animals can no longer be safely handled. 'I had to get a monkey, but the people won't take a check. They only take cash. So what do you do?' Antle said, according to a transcript of the phone call in court papers.
Two of Antle's employees have already been sentenced for their roles in his schemes. Meredith Bybee was given a year of probation for selling a chimpanzee, while Andrew Omar Sawyer, who prosecutors said helped Antle launder money, was given two years of probation. Jason Clay, a Texas private zoo owner, pleaded guilty to illegally selling a primate and was sentenced to four months in prison, while charges were dropped against California ranch owner Charles Sammut.
Antle was also convicted in 2023 in a Virginia court of four counts of wildlife trafficking over sales of lions and was sentenced to two years of prison, suspended upon five years of good behavior. An appeals court overturned two of the convictions, ruling that Virginia law bans the sale of endangered species but not their purchase. Antle was found not guilty of five counts of animal cruelty at that same Virginia trial.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Former wisconsin clerk who failed to count ballots broke laws, the state's elections commission says
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A confluence of errors, including unlawful actions by the former clerk in Wisconsin's capital city, led to nearly 200 absentee ballots not being counted in the November presidential election, an investigation by the state elections commission released Wednesday concluded. Maribeth Witzel-Behl resigned as Madison city clerk in April amid investigations by the city and the Wisconsin Elections Commission into the missing ballots. No outcome of any race was affected by the missing ballots. The city's investigation released in April determined that Witzel-Behl didn't break any laws but did violate multiple policies and her contractual duty to supervise elections and maintain professional standards. But the elections commission report concluded that there is probable cause that Witzel-Behl broke five election laws. The election commission's investigation was not a criminal probe. Whether the former clerk is actually charged with any crimes would be up to the Dane County district attorney. The elections commission report concluded that Witzel-Behl broke state law for failing to properly supervise an election, not providing the most recent current registration information for pollbooks in two wards, improperly handling the return of absentee ballots, not properly canvassing the returns as it pertained to the 193 uncounted ballots, and failing to provide sufficient information for the municipal board of canvassers to do its work. 'The failure to count the 193 ballots in Madison was a result of a confluence of errors,' the report concluded. It determined that Madison did not have procedures to place to track the number of absentee ballots going to a polling place, and there was a complete lack of leadership in the clerk's office. 'Instead of working to solve the problem, Witzel-Behl went on vacation for weeks after the election,' the report said. 'These ballots were treated as unimportant and a reconciliation nuisance rather than as the essential part of our democracy they represent,' the report said. The report also said that an unauthorized person was found sleeping in the building owned by Dane County and used by the city to store ballots. According to one of the workers at the facility, that person could have accessed the room where the security carts were stored. On multiple occasions, workers found unlocked doors at the building, a former brewery near the Madison airport, the report said. The report makes seven recommended orders for the city to comply with to improve its operations. The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to accept the report's findings and recommendations at its July 17 meeting. Madison city attorney and acting clerk Michael Haas said in a statement that he hoped the report can provide lessons that 'we and other Wisconsin clerks can learn to prevent similar errors in the future.' The city has already implemented additional safeguards and procedures that were in place for elections earlier this year to ensure that all eligible absentee ballots are accounted for, Haas said. He declined further comment until after the commission's vote on the report. The elections commission investigation was led by Democrat Ann Jacobs, the commission's chair, and former chair Republican Don Millis. They are both attorneys. This marks the first time in the eight-year history of the commission that it has used its investigatory authority. The investigation determined that two bags of uncounted absentee ballots likely never made it to the wards where they should have been counted. Dane County canvassers discovered 68 uncounted absentee ballots in a tabulator bin on Nov. 12, a week after the election, and another 125 uncounted ballots in a courier bag the first week of December. The clerk's office did not notify the Wisconsin Elections Commission of the oversight until Dec. 18, almost a month and a half after the election and well after results were certified on Nov. 29. Witzel-Behl told investigators she wasn't aware of any uncounted votes until the week of Dec. 10, even though she apparently sent an email to her staff on Nov. 27 to keep the ballots sealed and record the voters as having participated. Four voters whose ballots weren't counted have filed claims for $175,000 each, the first step toward a class-action lawsuit.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
13-year-old suspected of setting off fireworks that sparked southern california wildfire
A 13-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of setting off fireworks that sparked a wildfire this week in coastal Southern California, forcing the evacuations of about a hundred canyon homes, authorities said. Crews with air support protected residences from the Rancho Fire as flames raced through dry brush Monday afternoon in Laguna Beach. It was held to 4 acres (1.6 hectares) with no damage to structures. Police initially detained two juveniles who they later determined were witnesses not suspects, the city said in a statement Tuesday. Officers later obtained video evidence clearly showing a juvenile suspect lighting a firework and fleeing the scene, the statement said. The 13-year-old was taken into custody a short time later and could face charges including felony reckless burning of forest land, officials said. The teen was released to his parents. The Laguna Beach blaze was one of dozens of wildfires burning this week in the state. The risk of fire was especially high Wednesday as temperatures spiked and humidity dropped across inland Southern California. The Madre Fire became California's largest blaze so far this year, ripping through grasslands after breaking out July 2 in southeastern San Luis Obispo County. By Wednesday it covered more than 125 square miles (323 square kilometers). It was more than 60 percent contained.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Appeals court overturns Right-wing influencer's conviction for spreading 2016 election falsehoods
A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a self-styled right-wing propagandist's conviction for spreading falsehoods on social media in an effort to suppress Democratic turnout in the 2016 presidential election. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered a lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal for Douglass Mackey, finding that trial evidence failed to prove the government's claim that the Florida man conspired with others to influence the election. Mackey, 36, was convicted in March 2023 in federal court in Brooklyn on a charge of conspiracy against rights after posting false memes that said supporters of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton could vote for her by text message or social media post. He was sentenced to seven months in federal prison. 'HALLELUJAH!' Mackey wrote on X after the 2nd Circuit's decision was posted Wednesday. In follow up messages he thanked God, his family, wife, lawyers, and supporters, and threatened legal action over his conviction. One of Mackey's lawyers on his appeal was Yaakov Roth, who is now principal deputy assistant US attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Division. The federal prosecutors office in Brooklyn that brought the case declined to comment. In charging Mackey, prosecutors alleged that he conspired with others between September and November of 2016 to post memes such as a photo of a woman standing in front of an African Americans for Hillary sign. 'Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,' the tweet said. 'Text Hillary to 59925.' About 5000 people followed the memes' instructions, according to trial testimony. Nearly all of them received an automated response indicating that the social media posts were not associated with the Clinton campaign, and there was no evidence at trial that Mackey's tweets tricked anyone into failing properly to vote, the 2nd Circuit found. Mackey, who had 58000 followers at the time, posted under the alias Ricky Vaughn, the name of Charlie Sheen's character in the movie Major League. In overturning Mackey's conviction, a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel wrote, 'the mere fact that he posted the memes, even assuming that he did so with the intent to injure other citizens in the exercise of their right to vote, is not enough standing alone to prove a violation of the conspiracy law.' 'The government was obligated to show that Mackey knowingly entered into an agreement with other people to pursue that objective,' Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston and Judges Reena Raggi and Beth Robinson wrote. 'This the government failed to do.' Livingston and Raggi were appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. Robinson was appointed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. At Mackey's sentencing, the trial judge Ann M. Donnelly said that he had been one of the leading members of a conspiracy that was nothing short of 'an assault on our democracy.' The 2nd Circuit disagreed, ruling that the prosecution's primary evidence of a conspiracy was 'flimsy at best.' At Mackey's trial, prosecutors showed messages exchanged in private Twitter groups that they said proved an intent to interfere with people exercising their right to vote. However, the three-judge panel ruled that prosecutors failed to offer sufficient evidence that Mackey even viewed — let alone participated in — any of these exchanges. 'In the absence of such evidence, the government's remaining circumstantial evidence cannot alone establish Mackey's knowing agreement,' the judges wrote.
