July 8 (UPI) — Bhagavan “Doc” Antle of “Tiger King” is going to federal prison for crimes related to trafficking exotic animals after being sentenced Tuesday in Charleston, S.C.
U.S. District Court of South Carolina Judge Joseph Lawson III sentenced Antle, 65, to serve 12 months and one day, plus a $55,000 fine and three years of supervised release for violating the Lacey Act, WBTW reported.
The Lacey Act bans the sale of illegally acquired wildlife, fish or plants, including those that are designated as protected species by the federal government.
Antle entered guilty pleas to conspiracy and money laundering charges in November 2023 and was a cast member of the popular Netflix documentary series “Tiger King” that debuted on Netflix in March 2020.
“I made a mistake,” Antle told the court on Tuesday. “I did stupid things that never should have taken place, and I’m hoping to pull it back together.”
Antle founded the Myrtle Beach Safari wildlife preserve in South Carolina and was accused of conspiring to arrange the purchase or sale of two tigers, two lion cubs, two cheetah cubs and a young chimpanzee from September 2018 to May 2020.
The animals are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.
Federal prosecutors said Antle hid the transactions by using bulk cash payments and falsified paperwork to hide the financial transactions by making them appear to be donations to the non-profit wildlife preserve.
Antle also was accused of laundering proceeds in exchange for a 15% fee related to transporting and harboring “illegal aliens” from February to April 2022.
Police arrested Antle in June 2022 on charges of wildlife trafficking, for which he was convicted on four counts in a commonwealth court in Frederick County, Va., in 2023, WCIV reported.
The Virginia court sentenced Antle to a suspended sentence of two concurrent years for each charge and $10,000 in fines.
An appellate court overturned two of those convictions, and he was banned from working with, possessing, trading or otherwise engaging in activities involving non-native species in Virginia for five years.
Two of Antle’s employees also were convicted for their part in the criminal activities.
Meredith Bybee served a year of probation for selling a chimpanzee, and Andrew Sawyer served two years of probation for helping Antle launder money.
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