Updated: 7:31 AM PDT May 21, 2021 KOCO Staff Related Video Above: Tiger King zoo closed effective immediately; Jeff Lowe says he forfeited USDA exhibitors licenseThe federal government said Thursday it has seized 68 protected lions, tigers, lion-tiger hybrids and a jaguar from an animal park in Oklahoma featured in Netflix s Tiger King. According to a news release from the Justice Department, this was due to a judicially authorized search and seizure warrant for ongoing Endangered Species Act violations.The Justice Department will seek civil forfeiture of these animals and any offspring pursuant to the ESA s forfeiture provision, officials said. The Department of Agriculture s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has conducted three inspections of Tiger King Park since mid-December 2020. Officials said Jeff and Lauren Lowe received citations for failing to provide the animals with adequate or timely veterinary care, appropriate nutrition, and shelter
Eleven Defendants Charged with Murder in Indian Country Published: 15 May 2021 15 May 2021
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Oklahoma has returned separate indictments charging 11 defendants with murder and other various violent crimes arising out of Indian Country.
Over the course of a three-day grand jury session in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, trial attorneys with the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, working with and in support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, obtained the indictments charging the 11 defendants. These indictments followed the reversal or dismissal of state cases as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma.
Details Written by Imperial Valley News
Los Angeles, California - A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment Wednesday charging a Deputy U.S. Marshal Ian R. Diaz with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, and perjury.
According to the indictment, Ian R. Diaz, 43, of Brea, California, who serves as a Deputy U.S. Marshal with the U.S. Marshals Service, along with his former wife, who is alleged to be an unindicted co-conspirator, agreed to and did pose as a person with whom Diaz was formerly in a relationship (Jane Doe) and, in that guise, sent to themselves harassing and threatening electronic communications that contained apparent threats to harm Diaz’s former wife; solicited and lured men found through Craigslist “personal” advertisements to engage in so-called “rape fantasies” in an attempt to stage a purported sexual assault on Diaz’s former wife; and staged one or more hoax sexual assaults a
Prison Official Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes to Smuggle Contraband to Inmates Details Written by Justice Department
Charlotte, North Carolina - A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a bribery and smuggling scheme in which he abused his position as a prison official to funnel drugs and other contraband into Caledonia Correctional Institution.
According to court documents, Ollie Rose III, 62, of Pleasant Hill, worked as a case manager at Caledonia Correctional Institution, a state prison in Halifax County. Rose admitted to agreeing to use his position, from at least November 2018 through October 2020, to smuggle contraband including oxycodone, marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids into the prison for inmates. Rose further admitted that he did so in exchange for payments ranging from $500 to $1,200 and received more than $40,000 in total in bribes. He was paid both in cash and via a mobile application, and he sometimes also accepted a p
Two Indicted for $2 Million Scheme that Defrauded Over 20 Investors Details Written by Justice Department
Washington, DC - An indictment charging a District of Columbia man and Connecticut woman with perpetrating an advance fee and investment fraud scheme that defrauded more than 20 victims of more than $2 million was unsealed today in the District of Columbia.
According to court documents, Paul Maucha, 56, of Washington, D.C., and Melisa Shapiro, 63, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, conspired to engage in a scheme through a shell company they controlled, American Eagle Services Group (AESG), to make numerous misrepresentations about AESG, its assets and its access to money and capital.