Tiger King star Doc Antle faces grand jury indictment

Ryan King

June 30, 09:43 PM June 30, 09:43 PM

Tiger King star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle felt the bite of a 10-count indictment from a South Carolina grand jury for alleged wildlife trafficking and money laundering, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Antle, 62, who owns the wildlife tropical maintain Myrtle Seashore Safari, faces up to 20 several years guiding bars for the revenue laundering prices and five for the wildlife trafficking expenses, according to the Justice Section.

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“Kudos to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services for carrying out what the U.S. Office of Agriculture (USDA) has refused to do for many years: crack down on ‘Doc’ Antle’s endangered-animal exploitation outfit,” PETA reported in a statement. “PETA will preserve pushing the USDA to do its task, revoke Antle’s license, and halt allowing him income from animals’ distress.”

FBI agents and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Support investigated the circumstance. In addition to Antle, 4 other folks have been hit with similar indictments from the grand jury, including Andrew Sawyer, 52, Meredith Bybee, 51, Charles Sammut, 61, and Jason Clay, 42.

Bybee, Sammut, and Clay are accused of participating in the wildlife trafficking functions with Antle in violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act. Wildlife these as cheetahs, lemurs, and a chimpanzee were being allegedly trafficked in these operations. The trio is also accused of making bogus statements about that action to regulation enforcement.

The indictment also consists of cash laundering prices, including to a previously filed federal criticism introduced previously this thirty day period that also charged him for the alleged revenue laundering plan.

Antle is accused of conspiring with Sawyer to launder $505,000 from an alleged "operation to smuggle unlawful immigrants across the Mexican border into the United States." Both Antle and Saywer wrote checks with that money falsely professing to be remitted for development get the job done at Myrtle Beach Safari, according to the Justice Section. This process was applied as a guise for a "legitimate profits," but Antle and Sawyer reaped a 15% payment on the cash despatched, prosecutors alleged.

On Monday, a judge established a $250,000 bond for Antle and ordered him confined to his Myrtle Beach Safari for the dollars laundering expenses in the prior federal criticism. The bond was paid out and he was launched from a South Carolina jail Tuesday, WBTW documented.

Antle obtained fame for his overall look in the 2020 strike Tiger King documentary sequence, which explained to the tale of tiger breeders and non-public zoos. He was also featured in the stick to-up documentary Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story.

In addition to the grand jury indictment, he is also experiencing prices in Virginia for wildlife trafficking, animal cruelty, and additional, the Hill documented. He has had more than 35 Department of Agriculture violations filed versus him for his treatment of animals, in accordance to the outlet.