Federal sentencing set for S.C. zookeeper featured in ‘Tiger King’
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – The Myrtle Beach man who was featured in the Netflix series “Tiger King” will soon learn his fate.
Federal records show the sentencing date for Doc Antle has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 27 at the federal courthouse in Florence.
Antle is the owner and operator of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.), which is also known as Myrtle Beach Safari.
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He pleaded guilty back in November 2023 to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and conspiracy to launder money.
The Lacey Act prohibits trafficking of illegally taken wildlife, fish or plants, including animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Court documents show in September 2018 he paid a person to travel to Florida and pay about $35,000 for two young cheetahs.
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Then in January 2019, Antle sold two lion cubs to an organization in exchange for $15,000, according to the documents.
He’s also made $10,000 in payments to the Rare Species Fund, which is a nonprofit in South Carolina that he is the director of, in exchange for two tigers that were transported from South Carolina to Montana in March 2019.
The court documents add that in May 2020, a young chimpanzee was transported from Florida to Myrtle Beach Safari, where Antle paid $200,000 in cash and check for the chimpanzee.
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All of the animals involved are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The investigation also uncovered evidence of money laundering between February and April 2022, when Antle and his co-conspirator conducted financial transactions with cash they believed was obtained from transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants.
To conceal and disguise the nature of the illegal cash, Antle would take it and deposit the cash into bank s they controlled. Antle and his co-conspirator would then write a check to the person who provided them the cash after taking a 15% fee per transaction.
For each count, Antle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
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