“Tiger King” star Bhagavan Antle — better known on the show as “Doc Antle” — must mortgage thousands of dollars and stay away from exotic animals after he was sentenced Tuesday for illegally buying an endangered lion cub in Virginia.
Antle was convicted by a jury in June of two counts of wildlife trafficking and two counts of conspiracy to traffic in wildlife after buying the animals, which he planned to display outside his South Carolina business, according to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
A Frederick County judge on Tuesday sentenced Antle to two years in prison with time suspended on each count, to run concurrently. He is required to pay a maximum fee of $2,500 per conviction, totaling a $10,000 fine.
In addition, Antle is not allowed to work, own, possess, broker, buy, sell, trade, transfer, exchange or donate exotic animals for five years in Virginia, Miyares said.
“Today concludes a multi-year investigation and prosecution by my office. In Virginia, we uphold the rule of law without exception, whether dealing with violent repeat offenders, big pharma, fraudsters and con artists, or wildlife traffickers,” the DA said in a statement.
“This case sends a clear message that bad actors will not be tolerated in the Commonwealth.”
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday, with time suspended.
Antle is prominently featured in the 2020 Netflix phenomenon “Tiger King: Murder, Violence and Madness,” which follows a big cat breeder and a private zoo in the US.
The series delves into the life and times of eccentric Oklahoma zookeeper Joe Exotic, who is also the target of animal cruelty and is convicted of plotting to kill rival zookeeper Carole Baskin.
Antle has a history of violations dating back to 1989 when he was fined by the US Department of Agriculture for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Virginia.
He later committed more than 35 USDA violations for animal cruelty.
In June 2022, Antle was charged with laundering more than half a million dollars, which federal prosecutors said was the proceeds of an operation to smuggle illegal immigrants across the Mexican border into the United States.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the money laundering charges.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
