Two Arkansas men face possible prison time after pleading guilty Tuesday to single charges involving the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a law propelled by the Netflix “Tiger King” series that has already demonstrated its bite.
Capping an investigation that began with the sighting of a tiger cub in a residential neighborhood, federal prosecutors announced that Conway resident Keidrick Damond Usifo pleaded guilty to one count of violating the act while Little Rock resident Deon Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of helping conceal a felony.
Usifo faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Johnson’s charge, called misprision of a felony, carries the possibility of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The charges in the Eastern District of Arkansas follow a case in the Southern District of Texas that was the first set of charges brought under the big cat safety law passed by Congress in late 2022. The law prohibits people without licenses from possessing and breeding big cats and bans all entities from offering the public opportunities to engage with big cats, such as selling access to pet tiger cubs.
