“TIGER TERRORISTS” TAKE PLEA DEAL FROM JUSTICE –TARZAN’S TEARS TELL OF MURDER

A couple whose escaped exotic cat was killed in suburban Ventura County, California in 2005 have both pled guilty to federal charges related to the housing of their collection of animals.

The couple was moving their exotic cats from San Diego County to a new residence in Moorpark in early 2005 when their Siberian tiger escaped and roamed eastern Ventura County for almost four weeks until it was shot and killed.

Gert Einar “Abby” Hedengran, 58, who lives with his wife in Pahrump, Nevada, pled guilty to felony counts of making false statements to agents with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and obstruction of justice. Additionally, he pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to maintain proper records for the exotic felines.

Roena “Emma” Hedengran, 54, pled guilty to one misdemeanor count for failing to maintain records of exotic felines.

From March of 1998 through March of 2005, the Hedengrans operated a non-profit animal sanctuary and exhibition featuring exotic felines, including lions and tigers. In January 2005, they transferred their cats from a Temecula facility to their new residence and facility in Moorpark.

Gert Hedengran was named in a criminal complaint filed on March 16th, 2005 with making false statements to the Agriculture Department, submitting false records to the Agriculture Department, destroying evidence and three counts of obstruction of justice. The six charges carried a maximum possible penalty of 60 years in federal prison.

Rowena Hedengran was named in a separate criminal complaint with one count of obstruction of justice and witness tampering. That charge carried a maximum possible penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The Hedengrans were arrested the same day the complaint was filed in Federal District Court. An investigation conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Animal Care; the California Department of Fish and Game; and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service led to their original arrests.

At some point during the move, a Siberian lynx and an adult male Siberian tiger escaped from the new facility in Moorpark. The lynx was tranquilized and captured.

After approximately four weeks on the loose, the tiger known as “Tuffy” was shot and killed on February 23, 2005 in a Moorpark residential neighborhood near an elementary school and public park.

Gert Hedengran admitted that he misled and obstructed state and federal law enforcement officers who were attempting to track down and capture the escaped tiger. For example, he told investigators that he was not missing a tiger, when in fact he knew that “Tuffy” had escaped.

The Hedengrans pleaded guilty before United States District Judge George H. King in Los Angeles. Judge King is scheduled to sentence both defendants on April 9, 2007. King was slammed in 1999 in a letter to the editors of the Los Angeles Times for not allowing an AIDS patient the use of medical marijuana who later died.

According to Sam Lee, a writer for the Walkerville Weekly Reader, who reported Peter McWilliams death in 2000, Judge King said that “we have successfully strangled in their own vomit those who would use Proposition 215 to evade sanctions for their use of marijuana under a doctor’s orders.”

McWilliams died after “a long and tortuous” battle with the AIDS virus. “We knew it was going to kill him when we took his medicine away,” said King. “He was an outspoken critic of government policies, and he deserved to die. We made sure it was painful.” King expressed surprise that McWilliams survived as long as he did, according to writer Lee. [1]

In the Tiger Terror case a plea agreement between Gert Hedengran and the government calls for a sentence of 14 months in prison, although this is not binding on Judge King.

In an unrelated case, King dismissed the recommendations of prosecutors and dealt a harsher punishment to a man who pled guilty to impersonating an American Red Cross worker to collect donations for Hurricane Katrina victims. In that case, Tino Lee, 44, of Burbank was sentenced to a year in federal prison and two years of probation.

The parties have agreed that Roena Hedengran should receive a sentence of four months of home detention, three years of probation and fine of $2,000, a sentence that is binding on Judge King.

United States Attorney Joseph O. Johns led the prosecution in the case. In a similar case filed in September of 2006, a 45-year-old man was arrested on charges of sneaking two protected Asian leopard cats through LAX and lying for a friend who smuggled two pygmy monkeys in his pants.

Chris Edward Mulloy of Palm Springs, Calif., brought the protected cats into the United States on June 13, 2002, on a flight from Thailand, federal authorities contend.

While Mulloy made it past airport customs agents, his traveling companion, Robert Cusack, was arrested after inspectors found four birds of paradise and several orchids of a threatened species in his baggage.

Cusack also admitted to hiding two endangered pygmy monkeys in his underwear, authorities said. He was later sentenced to 57 days in jail for trying to smuggle the animals, which were confiscated and taken to the Los Angeles Zoo.

Mulloy, who allegedly was hiding two Asian leopard newborns in his own backpack, was able to slip past inspectors "perhaps because of the excitement at the discovery of the monkeys," said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

Federal prosecutors claim Mulloy called his sister, Darlah Kaye Mulloy, to help unload the cats. She allegedly helped him deliver the cats to her son and his girlfriend at the time, Mrozek said. One cat ended up in Texas and one is in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, with his former girlfriend.

The case against Mulloy and his sister, detailed in a federal indictment handed down in February of 2006, was filed only recently after the parties involved came forward, Mrozek said.

Chris Mulloy faces counts of smuggling, fraudulently concealing a protected species and lying to officials with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Customs. He could face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to US$1 million if convicted on all charges, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph O. Johns.

His sister was charged with illegally receiving, concealing and transporting wildlife, and attempting to obstruct justice and tamper with a witness. The case is still pending while Mulloy is out on $50,000 bail.

Johns is Chief of the Environmental Crimes Unit for the Department of Justice in Los Angeles and was a former District Attorney for San Bernardino County, Los Angeles.

Judge King was born in 1951 in Shanghai. After graduating from USC Law School in 1974, he was briefly in private practice before becoming Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California from 1975-79.

He was also a Hearing examiner for the LA Police Commission, and a US Magistrate for the Central District of California from1987-1995. He was appointed by former President Clinton in 1995 to the federal bench. Judge King is former president (1984-85) of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association.

In a similar case which happened in Florida, although no one was arrested for it, a tiger that reportedly scaled a 12-foot wall to escape the Florida home of an actor who once played Tarzan was shot and killed in 2004 after he made a threatening move at a wildlife officer.

"The animal made an aggressive move toward the officer, he felt threatened, and, unfortunately, the animal was killed” said Willie Puz, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Two wildlife officers approached the escaped 600-pound Bengal-Siberian mixed tiger named Bobo. They had planned to shoot him with a tranquilizer and capture the animal alive, but the tiger's aggressive display prompted the lethal shot.

Bobo, a six-year-old, was owned by Steve Sipek, an actor who starred as the King of the Jungle in two movies in 1970 and 1972 under the screen name Steve Hawkes.

Bobo had stayed within 200 yards of its’ original home, he managed to elude a dozen wildlife trackers and sheriff's deputies for more than 24 hours.

Sipek, his shirt soaked in blood from hugging the dead tiger, told reporters gathered at the scene that he doubted Bobo had to be killed, that he was shot so that the wildlife officers would be recognized as heroes for saving the people from the "vicious tiger."

"Murder is the word," he said. "They murdered a poor, helpless animal that only looked ferocious, as any tiger would. But Bobo had a heart of gold," said Sipek with tears in his eyes.

Bobo was de-clawed, but still had his fangs. Wildlife officials said that the tiger bit and injured a woman who was working at Sipek's home in 2002.

In 2003, the discovery of a 400-pound Siberian-Bengal tiger living in a New York apartment had prompted animal welfare organizations to call for a ban on private ownership of big cats. That tiger was later placed in an Ohio sanctuary.

As many as 20,000 exotic big cats may be living in neighborhoods and roadside zoos in the United States. In fact, the country may have more pet tigers than there are estimated to be remaining in their wild habitats in Asia according to writers, researchers and documentary film producers for National Geographic Magazine.

Acquiring large cats as pets is legal and surprisingly easy in many states and counties in the United States. Most owners end up with much more than they bargained for—and it's the cats that often pay the price by being neglected or not properly accommodated and cared for, or shot to death when they escape the clutches of their captors.

Alex S. Gabor is the author of "Bonanza – Profiting During a Real Estate Depression – How to Make a Killing During a Real Estate Bust", an electronic book being readied for release in 2007. He is a freelance writer living in Hollywood. He spent 25 years investigating and working in the mortgage banking industry and is an inventor of zero interest mortgages. He is a major proponent of changing the current tax laws to eliminate mortgage interest deductions and replace them with principal reduction credits to encourage debt free home ownership and affordable housing.

Copyright © 2007 by Alex S. Gabor. All World Rights Reserved.

1] http://www.hypocritae.com/?ART=32