Will Joe Exotic Get a New Trial?

Read the Government’s excellent response and decide for yourself.  Government Response to Motion for New Trial

 

Summary of Joe Schreibvogel Maldonado Passage’s Alleged Murder for Hire Attempt on Carole Baskin

This was a 76 page response by the Government to Joe Exotic’s latest attorney, John Phillip’s, demand for a new trial.  It turns out to be a pretty concise summary of events in my opinion.  What do you think?

 

Just the first 15 pages of the above linked Motion:

 

On April 1, 2022, Joseph Maldonado-Passage filed a motion for new trial, raising claims of (1) newly discovered evidence, (2) violations of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), (3) outrageous government conduct, (4) violations of Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1969), and (5) prosecutorial misconduct. Doc. 232 (“Mtn.”).1 For the reasons discussed below, relief is not warranted on any of these claims. Thus, this Court should deny his motion for new trial.

 

Facts

 

In 1999, Mr. Maldonado-Passage opened a zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Tr. at 928; later, he began performing road shows across the country, where he would allow people to play and take pictures with animals, usually baby tigers, id. at 286–87, 294. Carole Baskin, “an activist against the abuse of big cats in captivity,” id. at 349, started a website identifying people she believed were “exploiting these animals in a bad way” and showing the public “what’s going on behind the scenes, . . . how these cubs are being treated,” id. at 353. She would contact malls, “send them a fact sheet about why this cub handling was such a horrible thing for the cubs,” and send out alerts about upcoming cub petting events. Id. at 358. Occasionally, her fans would protest on the street corner. Id.

 

In the mid-2000s, Mrs. Baskin identified Mr. Maldonado-Passage on her website, including approximately 20 different aliases that he used. Id. at 357. In response, he began using the name “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment” and the intellectual property of Mrs. Baskin’s organization—Big Cat Rescue. Id. at 359–64, 372. In return, Mrs. Baskin sued Mr. Maldonado-Passage. Id. at 368–72. The lawsuits ended with approximately $1 million in judgments in favor of Mrs. Baskin and Big Cat Rescue. Id. at 376. When she attempted to collect on the judgments, Mr. Maldonado-Passage transferred ownership of his zoo to Jeff Lowe, who named it the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (hereinafter, “the zoo” or “the park”). Id. at 709–10. Mr. Lowe left Mr. Maldonado-Passage in charge of the day-to-day operations of the zoo. Id. at 710.

 

During meetings, Mr. Maldonado-Passage told zoo employees that he would like to see Mrs. Baskin dead. Tr. at 51. He tried to recruit people to kill Mrs. Baskin several times. E.g. id. at 394–95, 545–47. And he even spoke daily about wanting to have Mrs. Baskin murdered. Id. at 619.

 

In February 2017, Mrs. Baskin received a voicemail warning her that Mr. Maldonado-Passage was trying to harm her. Id. at 395. She sent the message to her attorney, who forwarded it to the government, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started its investigation.2 Id. at 395, 433.

 

In August 2017, James Garretson, Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Maldonado-Passage spoke about killing Mrs. Baskin, with Mr. Lowe pulling up maps of Mrs. Baskin’s bike path, gift shop, and house. Id. at 547–48. During the conversations, Mr. Maldonado-Passage brought “over a big stack of manila folders” with information he had received from “somebody in the inside of [Mrs. Baskin’s] organization.” Id. He returned to his desk and partially engaged in the conversation, but mostly talked to himself. Id. at 548–49.

 

That same month, Mr. Lowe asked Mr. Garretson to contact Mrs. Baskin about the possibility of Mr. Lowe selling the zoo to her. Id. at 549–50. But when Mr. Garretson called, Mrs. Baskin did not answer. Id. at 550–51. Instead, Special Agent Matthew Bryant of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) returned Mr. Garretson’s call. Id. at 551. They met in-person in September of 2017. Id. After meeting with Special Agent Bryant and discussing Mr. Maldonado-Passage, Mr. Garretson agreed to become a confidential informant and agreed to record certain phone calls and turn them over to the government. Id. at 552–53.

 

On September 29, 2017, Mr. Garretson had his first recorded conversation with Mr. Maldonado-Passage about killing Mrs. Baskin. See Attachment 1. During the conversation, Mr. Garretson asked when Mrs. Baskin would stop suing Mr. Maldonado-Passage, and Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded: “She won’t, until somebody shoots her.” Id. at 1. Later, Mr. Garretson mentioned that “[o]ne of [his] guys just got out of jail recently,” and they just needed to “get some cash together” and come up with a plan. Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded: “I know where the cash is.” Id. When Mr. Garretson mentioned his guy was “down there in Bushnell,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage commented that was “[r]ight in her neighborhood.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage also suggested there was “ten thousand on her head.” Id. When Mr. Garretson said that he was trying to get his guy “to come to Texas,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded: “You don’t want to talk about this sht over a phone or anything.” Id. at 2. Mr. Garretson broached the subject again, saying that he would talk to his guy and “probably . . . buy him a Greyhound ticket.” Id. at 6. Mr. Maldonado-Passage noted in response that the “hurricane would have been the perfect time when the power was out” because “[t]hey had no street cameras or nothing.” Id. at 6.

 

Mr. Maldonado-Passage also began having conversations about killing Mrs. Baskin with Alan Glover. The first conversation occurred about 11:00 p.m. or midnight sometime before October 6, 2017, on the front porch of the gift shop. Id. at 621–22. Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked Mr. Glover if he could “get it done,” referring to killing Mrs. Baskin. Id. at 622.3 When Mr. Glover said he could, Mr. Maldonado-Passage offered to pay Mr. Glover $5,000 and would take care of him once it was done. Id. at 623–24. They subsequently discussed how to kill Mrs. Baskin—with Mr. Maldonado-Passage preferring the use of either a gun or a crossbow but Mr. Glover not wanting to use a firearm from Oklahoma for fear that he would be stopped and searched while traveling to Florida, which would have resulted in him getting arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Id. at 624–25. Mr. Glover proposed cutting off her head. Id. at 626.

 

On November 4, 2017, Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked Mr. Garretson if he knew a place to get a fake ID, and Mr. Garretson told him about a place in Dallas.4 Id. at 558. Mr. Maldonado-Passage then asked John Finlay to take Mr. Glover to Dallas and paid for the gas. Id. at 757–58. Once they were on the road, Mr. Maldonado-Passage told Mr. Finlay that Mr. Glover needed to go to Dallas “to get a fake ID so he could go take care of Carole [Baskin].” Id. at 758. According to Mr. Glover, Mr. Maldonado-Passage had the idea to get a fake ID for Mr. Glover so he would not leave a paper trail when he traveled “[t]o Florida to kill that lady.” Id. at 627–28. Mr. Maldonado-Passage gave Mr. Finlay $200 to pay for Mr. Glover’s fake ID. Id. at 629. He checked in with Mr. Finlay twice after they got Mr. Glover’s ID, once to ask how the ID looked and the second time to have them take it to “James Garretson to fix it.” Id. at 760. When Mr. Finlay and Mr. Glover arrived at Mr. Garretson’s shop, Mr. Garretson scraped the words “entertainment purposes only” off the back of the fake ID. Id. at 561.

 

On November 7, 2017, Mr. Garretson spoke with both Mr. Lowe and Mr. Maldonado-Passage. Id. at 562. When Mr. Garretson asked Mr. Maldonado-Passage if he got “everything else handled,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded that he was just “waiting on this lady to get this money for these liligers cause that is what [he was] paying for it with.” Attachment 2 at 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage also noted that “all of the bills came from Florida,” which he thought was important because “as long as [he did not] touch them,” he would not be implicated if Mr. Glover “gets busted with it.” Id. When Mr. Garretson mentioned that “it’s a tricky situation,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage explained that Mr. Lowe had “100% confidence in [Mr. Glover] because he’s done it before.” Id. When asked if Mr. Finlay was “pretty quiet about everything,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded, “Yeah, he dmn sure don’t want to be implicated in it, you know somebody that drove to go get the fake ID for it.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage also explained that he was going to have Mr. Glover “buy a go-phone down there and Jeff [Lowe] is buying a go-phone so they can communicate and then throw them away.” Id. He also explained, “we are going to over-night [Mr. Glover’s] phone to Vegas and Jeff is going to text pictures every once in a while back to the staff so that [Mr. Glover’s] phone registers in Vegas.” Id.

 

He concluded, “As long as he [Mr. Glover] don’t get caught red-handed, I think, I think we got this. . . . But if they bust him red-handed, me and Jeff are just, we got our story down to where we fired the motherfcker and he just went off the deep end.” Id. at 2.

 

On November 8, 2017, Mr. Garretson went to the zoo at the government’s request to get the name on Mr. Glover’s fake ID. Tr. at 564. During this visit, he spoke with Mr. Glover, who tried to convince him (Mr. Garretson) that he (Mr. Glover) was going to go kill Mrs. Baskin.5 Id. at 634. Mr. Garretson asked Mr. Glover when he was leaving. Attachment 3 at 1. Mr. Glover said, “[h]opefully soon,” and explained that he was waiting on a woman to deliver some money. Id. When Mr. Garretson asked Mr. Glover how long he would be down in Florida,

 

Mr. Glover responded, “As long as it takes. I’m not coming directly back here, you know that.” Id. Mr. Garretson told Mr. Glover to “[m]ake sure [Mr. Maldonado-Passage] pays you real good,” to which Mr. Glover said Mr. Maldonado-Passage “is gonna be in my pocket forever.” Id. Mr. Glover also explained that his reason for doing it was not Mr. Maldonado-Passage or Mr. Lowe, but Mr. Glover testified that he never intended to kill Mrs. Baskin when he accepted Mr. Maldonado-Passage’s offer to pay him to kill her. Id. at 626, 636.

 

He explained that he tried to convince Mr. Garretson that he was going to kill Mrs. Baskin because he thought Mr. Garretson was going to try and take his place and take the money. Mr. Glover made clear that he had been hired to kill Mrs. Baskin: “I’m going to be there for a couple weeks, figure this sht out. I’m not just, I mean, I get lucky, I’ll take her out the first few days. I got time, I got money.” Id. at 3.

 

On November 16, 2017, Mr. Garretson asked Mr. Glover why he had not gone to Florida yet, and Mr. Glover explained, “[t]hings change.” Id. at 567; Attachment 4 at 25 at 4. Mr. Garretson thought the plan was off and told federal agents. Tr. at 568.

 

On November 17, 2017, Mr. Garretson spoke with Mr. Maldonado-Passage. Tr. at 569; Attachment 5. During their conversation, Mr. Garretson asked if Mr. Maldonado-Passage was “gonna ever send that guy [Mr. Glover] today or is he ever gonna go down there [to Florida] or you just gotta wait for money?” Attachment 5 at 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage replied, “I’m figuring that the money’ll come in today. Then he’s gone.” Id. Mr. Garretson asked if Mr. Maldonado-Passage trusted Mr. Glover, and Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded, “Jeff does.” Id. When Mr. Garretson questioned Mr. Lowe’s judgment, Mr. Maldonado-Passage replied, “I don’t trust him.” Id. They both expressed concerns that Mr. Glover might talk about the plan because of his alcohol use. Id. at 2.

 

Given the uncertainty, Mr. Garretson suggested “bring[ing] that dude,” referring to the undercover agent he mentioned on September 29. Id. at 1; see Attachment 1 at 1–2, 6. Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked, “How much [would] that dude cost us,” and Mr. Garretson responded, “Probably seven to ten thousand maybe, but he’ll do it.” Attachment 5 at 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage explained that he was sending Mr. Glover “with four [thousand] and then give him six [thousand] when it was done.” Id. at 2. He then offered to give Mr. Garretson the money (less what Mr. Garretson owed) to pass on

to Mr. Garretson’s person, have Mr. Garretson “show him online what she looks like [and] her address,” and give the rest to Mr. Garretson “when he is done and back.” Id. at 3. Mr. Garretson said he would bring “this guy” the Monday after Thanksgiving. Id.

 

On November 21, 2017, Mr. Glover told Mr. Garretson that he would be leaving on Friday (November 24, 2017) because he was tired of everything going on and Mr. Lowe had things for him to do in South Carolina. Attachment 4 at 4; Tr. at 568–69.

 

In the days before November 25, 2017, Mr. Maldonado-Passage sold a liliger. Tr. at 637. The transaction consisted of Mr. Glover placing a cub in the buyer’s car and the buyer handing Mr. Maldonado-Passage an envelope stuffed with money, approximately a couple of inches thick. Id. at 637–39.

 

On November 25, 2017, Mr. Maldonado-Passage gave Mr. Glover an envelope that was thinner than the envelope Mr. Maldonado-Passage received from the sale of the cub. Id. at 640–41. Despite being promised an initial payment of $5,000, there was only $3,000 in the envelope. Id. at 641.

 

When Mr. Maldonado-Passage gave Mr. Glover the envelope with money, he also asked Mr. Glover to hand over his (Mr. Glover’s) cell phone. Id.; see also Attachment 4 at 3 (showing the last time the location on Mr. Glover’s original HTC phone reported was November 25, 2017, at 2:59pm UTC or 8:59 a.m. CST). Mr. Maldonado-Passage then gave Mr. Glover the phone from the zoo’s pizza restaurant (“the pizza phone”). Tr. at 641. On the pizza phone, Mr. Maldonado-Passage took several pictures of Mrs. Baskin that he pulled up on his computer and pictures of the address of Big Cat Rescue so Mr. Glover “wouldn’t kill the wrong person.” Tr. at 642–43; see also Attachment 6 at 3–6 (showing that photos of Mrs. Baskin and the address for Big Cat Rescue were created on the ZTE pizza phone on November 25, 2017, at 3:05pm UTC or 9:05 a.m. CST). At 10:13 a.m., a package was sent from Wynnewood, Oklahoma to Las Vegas, Nevada, and the postage was paid using Mr. Lowe’s signature stamp. Attachment 7 at 2. The Lowes, who were living in Las Vegas at this time, received that package from the zoo after Thanksgiving, which contained Mr. Glover’s cellphone and a charger. Tr. at 712–13.

 

Mr. Glover booked a plane ticket from Oklahoma City to Savannah, Georgia. Id. at 639. He told Mr. Maldonado-Passage that he wanted to go to South Carolina before going to Florida, and Mr. Maldonado-Passage “didn’t care, as long as [he] got to Florida.” Id. Mr. Glover assured Mr. Maldonado-Passage that he would drive to Florida once his license was straightened out. Id. Mr. Glover flew from Oklahoma City to Savannah, arriving early in the morning of November 26. Id. at 476, 643–44. Once he arrived, his daughter picked him up and brought him to South Carolina. Id. He traveled to Florida a few weeks later, ultimately ending up on a beach drunk and high; having spent all his money, he went back to South Carolina. Id. at 644–47.

 

On December 5, 2017, Mr. Garretson informed Mr. Maldonado-Passage that his (Mr. Garretson’s) guy—referring to the undercover agent—was in town to meet on Friday, December 8. Id. at 570; Attachment 8. Mr. Maldonado-Passage said that he would be in town “until about 3 o’clock,” but to check that morning because “[a] whole lot can go on between now and then.” Attachment 8.

 

On December 8, 2017, Mr. Maldonado-Passage met with Mr. Garretson and the undercover agent, referred to as Mark Williams (hereinafter, “Mark”). Tr. at 782. During the meeting, Mr. Garretson mentioned that Mark had “spent a lot of time in Florida.” Attachment 9 at 7. In response, Mr. Maldonado-Passage explained that Mrs. Baskin had cost him “almost three-quarters of a million dollars in lawyers already.” Id. at 8. A few moments later, Mark brought up that Mr. Garretson had told him something about Mrs. Baskin, to which Mr. Maldonado-Passage replied that he did not “want anybody getting caught” and that they could blame it on a serial killer in Tampa, Florida, who had not been caught. Id. at 10.

 

Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked Mark, “what’s something like that run?” Id. at 11. Mark replied, “usually about 10[,000].” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage suggested that Mark could probably get 20,000. Id. He then asked, “What do you need down? 10?” Mark responded, “Man I’d like, I’d like half.” Id. To which Mr. Maldonado-Passage replied, “10 down. . . . 10 when its on the noose? [Laughs] She’s dead?” Id. Mark explained that he would need “enough to get me down there for a few days” so he could know “who she is . . . .” Id. at 12. Mr. Maldonado-Passage interjected, “what she looks like . . . [y]ou got to scope her out.” Id. Mark responded, “Exactly,” explaining that he did not “want to get caught.” Id. at 13. Mr. Maldonado-Passage pointed out that Mrs. Baskin had posted the bike path that she rides to work on Facebook and explained that Mr. Lowe had a map of her house. Id.

 

When Mark told Mr. Maldonado-Passage to let him know if he was serious, Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded that they would get Mr. Garretson the money. Id. at 14. When Mark asked how much Mr. Maldonado-Passage could get up front, he responded, “we can get 5 easy,” Mark replied, “That’s perfect man. That’d be perfect.” Id.

 

Mark told Mr. Maldonado-Passage that he needed to know where Mrs. Baskin lives and would like any information Mr. Maldonado-Passage had on her. Id. at 19. In response, Mr. Maldonado-Passage provided several documents related to Mrs. Baskin that came from her office. Id.; Tr. at 790. He also provided the address of Big Cat Rescue. Attachment 9 at 22. They discussed getting burner phones so Mark could call Mr. Maldonado-Passage when the murder happened and then they would throw the phones in the river. Id. at 26–27. Mr. Maldonado-Passage suggested following Mrs. Baskin into a mall parking lot, shooting her, and driving off. Id. at 29. When Mark suggested that Mr. Maldonado-Passage could take his time coming up with the other half, Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded that he would “just sell a bunch of tigers.” Id. at 36.

 

Mark also told Mr. Maldonado-Passage that he would knock some money off if Mr. Maldonado-Passage could get a clean pistol. Id. at 47. And Mr. Maldonado-Passage said he would “get a pistol at the flea market.” Id. Finally, Mr. Maldonado-Passage suggested that Mark could just take pictures of the screen when they get burner phones rather than texting or printing the maps of Mrs. Baskin’s house. Id. at 48–49.

 

On December 18, 2017, Mr. Garretson and Mr. Maldonado-Passage had a call, Tr. at 572–73, and Mr. Garretson brought up Mark. Attachment 10. Mr. Maldonado-Passage told Mr. Garretson he would have the money in the next week or two when a couple of litters of lions were due. Id.

 

On February 11, 2018, Mr. Garretson and Mr. Maldonado-Passage had another conversation. Tr. at 574; see Attachment 11. Mr. Garretson mentioned that when they got some money together, they would take care of “that sht down the road anyway.” Attachment 11 at 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded, “I hope,” and noted that “[t]he last guy went down to North Carolina [sic] and drank it all” and that he never came back.  When Mr. Garretson said, “we’ll get Mark on it just whenever,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded, “I know. Two more weeks of it, two more weeks of it.” Id.

 

On February 18, 2018, Mr. Maldonado-Passage called Mr. Garretson and asked if Mark was still available. Tr. at 574–75. Mr. Garretson confirmed he was. Id. at 575.

 

On March 8, 2018, Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked Mr. Garretson if they could trust Mark, and Mr. Garretson responded, “100%.” Attachment 12. Referring to Mr. Glover, Mr. Maldonado-Passage lamented about “[t]hat one of Jeff’s run off with my money and never heard from him again.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage noted that he had “three badss weekends coming,” id., because “it was near spring break and the zoo does really well financially,” Tr. at 577.

 

On March 28, 2018, Mr. Garretson and Mr. Maldonado-Passage had another discussion, during which Mr. Garretson wondered if they still “wanted to pursue with the Baskin sht.” Attachment 13 at 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage responded that Mark said, “he’d take care of Florida for 10.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage also asked Mr. Garretson again if he trusted Mark, and Mr. Garretson responded, “I’ve done some sht with him. He’s not like that other dipsht, he’s . . . ,” to which Mr. Maldonado-Passage interjected, “He took four thousand bucks and never came back.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage then asked Mr. Garretson how to “funnel the money,” and Mr. Garretson responded, “You just . . . cash . . . cash, that’s you just save up some 20s from various place and just fcking give it to him and you’re fcking done.” Id. To which Mr. Maldonado-Passage replied, “Cause you don’t want to take it out of the bank do you?” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage explained, “I didn’t know how many people we need to funnel it through,” pondering if he just needed to give Mr. Garretson the money to give to Mark. Id. at 2. He eventually explained that he did not “want to send [Mark] down to Florida unless he really thinks he can . . . .” Id. at 2.

 

Shortly after this conversation, Mr. Lowe returned to Oklahoma and Mr. Maldonado-Passage stopped talking to Mr. Garretson. Tr. at 578–79. In May 2018, Mr. Garretson spoke with Mr. Lowe and learned that he (Mr. Lowe) might have more information. Id. at 579. He arranged a meeting between Special Agent Bryant and the Lowes on June 5, 2018. Id. at 461, 579. At that meeting, the Lowes gave Mr. Glover’s personal phone, which had been sent to them in Las Vegas from Wynnewood on November 25, 2017, to Special Agent Bryant. Id. at 462, 716.

 

In early-July 2018, Mr. Glover returned to Oklahoma at Mr. Lowe’s request. Id. at 462, 649. Upon his return, Mr. Glover met with federal agents and gave them the pizza phone and a phone that he obtained while he was out-of-state. Id.

On September 5, 2018, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Oklahoma returned an indictment charging Mr. Maldonado-Passage with two counts of using a facility of interstate commerce in the commission of a murder-for-hire plot. Doc. 1. Mr. Maldonado-Passage was arrested on September 7, 2018. Doc. 6.

 

Sixteen days later, Mr. Maldonado-Passage called Mr. Finlay. Tr. at 762; see Attachment 14. During the call, Mr. Maldonado-Passage claimed that Mr. Lowe was “coming after [Mr. Finlay] too.” Attachment 14 at 2. When Mr. Finlay asked, “For what,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage told him, “For taking Alan to get that ID in Texas.” Id. at 3. Mr. Finlay then told Mr. Maldonado-Passage that he had “already explained all that.” Id. When Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked, “To who,” Mr. Finlay replied, “To the FBI.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage then asked Mr. Finlay what he explained, Mr. Finlay said, “[j]ust what went on.” Id. Pushing further, Mr. Maldonado-Passage inquired: “That he . . . he needed it to go to Florida?” Id. When Mr. Finlay said, “Yeah,” Mr. Maldonado-Passage asked, “Oh, so, so you hung me out to dry?” Id. But Mr. Finlay defended his actions, “No I told the fcking truth, and . . . and f*cking Jeff was in, in my explanation too.” Id. Mr. Maldonado-Passage did not try to deny culpability, but only asked, “Well why am I the one in trouble? . . . He is the one who organized it.” Id.

 

On November 7, 2018, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment, which alleged—in addition to the counts in the original indictment—nine violations of the Endangered Species Act and ten violations of the Lacey Act. Doc. 24. Jury selection occurred on March 12, 2019, Doc. 93, and the presentation of evidence began on March 25, 2019, Doc. 105. At the close of the government’s case, it announced that it would dismiss two of the Lacey Act counts (Count 13 and 14). Tr. at 827, 853–54. On April 2, 2019, the jury returned guilty verdicts on the remaining counts. Doc. 113.

 

On January 27, 2020, this Court sentenced Mr. Maldonado-Passage to 264 months’ imprisonment. Doc. 134. Mr. Maldonado-Passage appealed, and the Tenth Circuit affirmed his convictions but remanded for resentencing so that Counts 1 and 2 could be grouped for purposes of calculating the guidelines range. United States v. Maldonado-Passage, 4 F.4th 1097 (10th Cir. 2021). On January 28, 2022, this Court resentenced Mr. Maldonado-Passage to 252 months’ imprisonment. Doc. 209. Mr. Maldonado-Passage appealed, Doc. 217, and his appeal is currently pending.

 

Does Joe Exotic really have cancer?

Probably not, if his past performances are any indicator.  On 8/9/2021 even his attorney, John Phillips said there wasn’t any conclusive proof.  In fact, on May 15, 2021 the NY Post said that Phillips stated that Joe had not even had a biopsy done yet.  It doesn’t take 3 months to do a biopsy so where’s the proof?  Meanwhile Joe is going on and on about where all the supposed cancer has spread, when there doesn’t appear to have been a diagnosis of cancer at all.

Observing Joe Schriebvogel Maldonado Passage all these years; he’s claimed to be dying of a myriad of diseases and I think it’s just to get attention.  He seems to have discovered that the media can be whipped into a frenzy every time he complains, so this just looks like a continuance of his decades of sympathy seeking.  It’s like the little boy that cried “Wolf!” where no one who knows him would likely believe such claims now.

Meanwhile, all of the animals left in the hands of Jeff Lowe, his business partner were abandoned to the Department of Justice on 8/13/2021.

Joe Exotic’s Sentence Vacated by Appellate Court.  2021-07-14 Joe Exotic Sentence Vacated

2020-11-19 USFWS and USDA charges brought by DOJ against Jeff Lowe, Lauren Lowe and Tiger King Park.  2020-11-19 US vs Lowe complaint

2020-08-17 Jeff Lowe’s USDA License Suspended at GW Zoo

USDA letter to Jeff Lowe restricting him from moving animals during his suspension. 

USDA vs Jeff Lowe 2020 Complaint

After USDA suspended Jeff Lowe’s license and published this inspection report dated 07-08-2020 he announced on Facebook that the GW Zoo has been closed immediately and he plans to turn Thackerville into a movie set and not seek apparently not seek USDA permits there.

https://youtu.be/vHlDTOazX5I

Jeff Lowe’s 2020 Run in w/ USDA

2020-06-22 USDA inspection report

Joe Exotic Convicted for Murder for Hire & 17 Wildlife Trafficking Violations Sentenced to 22 Years in the Federal Pen!

Since the arrest of Joe Exotic in September 2018 the GW Zoo has been run by Jeff Lowe and Lauren Lowe.

1/22/20 – See the sentencing statement for Joe Exotic at https://bigcatrescue.org/sentencing-statement/

4/2/2019 – I am grateful that justice was served and Joe Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage hopefully will serve time in prison and no longer present a threat either to me or to his former big cats. While media attention regarding this trial has primarily focused on the murder for hire charges, there is a much larger significance to the wildlife charges. For years, a network of big cat owners like Passage who have engaged in cruel cub petting  schemes and the exhibition of big cats have also been engaging in the illegal sale of tigers and other animals back and forth among themselves simply by checking the box on the USDA transfer form that says “donated” instead of “sale” and quietly paying cash for the animals. During the trial, several big cat owners were specifically mentioned as people Passage had sold tigers to. We believe this illegal practice is common among cub breeders and exhibitors; Bhagavan Antle, Tim Stark, Bill Meadows, Mario Tabraue, Kathy Stearns, Robert Engesser, Jeff Lowe, and Omar Villareal are some of the most notorious. I hope that the detailed evidence of these illegal transfers developed for this trial will lead to more prosecutions to protect captive big cats in this country from this illegal trade.

~ Carole Baskin, Founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue

9/7/18 Joe Schreibvogel Maldonado-Passage, aka “Joe Exotic,” was arrested after being indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on two counts of “murder for hire” for seeking to hire someone to murder Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue.   Read more at https://bigcatrescue.org/joe-exotic-arrested-murder-hire/

JOE SCHREIBVOGEL

JOE “EXOTIC”

AKA JOSEPH MALDONADO

AKA JOSEPH MALDONADO-PASSAGE

If Joe Schreibvogel Maldonado has contacted you with slanderous allegations against Big Cat Rescue, check out this million dollar settlement Joe Schreibvogel consented to in favor of Big Cat Rescue.

Researched and written by Howard Baskin JD, MBA, Advisory Board Chairman of Big Cat Rescue

Joe Schreibvogel says that he and his parents started G.W. Exotic Memorial Animal Park in memory of a brother who loved animals.

On December 10, 2010 Joe wrote on Facebook

“…another employee quit today without so much as a phone call.  …all I get is a text message that reads… My brother (g.w.) would be ashamed of what I have become”

If Joe’s brother was indeed a lover of animals, this is likely to be an understatement.

As detailed below, Joe has become one of the most notorious breeders and exploiters of tiger cubs in the world.

DECEPTION

Below you will read about how Joe treats tiger cubs and some of his deceptions. One telling example of his dishonesty that is not cat related is his claim to be a country western singer. It is hard to imagine how anyone who hears his nasal speaking voice could believe that the voice on hi music videos is really his.  But the people he has duped into believing his nonsense seem to.  In actual fact, informant information indicates he has paid singers/songwriters Vince Johnson and/or Danny Clinton to sing some if not all of the songs.  Then Joe makes a video lip syncing the song and claims it is him singing.

You can hear his speaking voice on his Facebook page.

Originally we had a link here to one of his songs. But after we revealed how he had misled everyone, including his own followers, he took down most of his music videos from YouTube and in one of his Facebook video rants basically admitted his deceit by saying “who cares” as if it does not matter that he lied to everyone for years. It matters because it shows his true character, or lack thereof, and apparent desperate need for attention, in our view.

Joe pretended to sing this song:

ABUSE OF TIGER CUBS

Feds Cite Big-Cat Exhibitor Over Transport of Infant Tiger Cub 

Joe Schreibvogel operates a roadside zoo in Oklahoma with 1400 animals, including over 150 tigers, on sixteen acres, that has a history of serious animal abuse (see below).  He generates revenue by constantly breeding tiger cubs, ripping them from their mothers shortly after birth, and abusing them by carting them around from mall to mall charging people to pet them alongside a magic show he performs.  USDA rules prohibit using the cubs for this purpose after they reach 12 weeks old.  When he can no longer use them to make money, he “donates” (or by some reports sells) them, or brings to his zoo.  In most cases these animals will at best spend their entire lives in small, prison-like cells.  Current USDA regulations permit keeping an adult tiger in a cage smaller than a parking spot. Many of his cats are sent to places with a history of animal abuse violations.

What is life like for these poor cubs dragged around from mall to mall for the early weeks of their lives?  Videos of the mall exhibit reveal what they endure.

In the video below, you can see that the cub has diarrhea.  Witnesses report this was true of at least three of the cubs.  Instead of taking the cubs off display, the attendant follows the cub with a rag.  First Beth Corley wipes the floor, then she wipes the cub’s bottom with the same rag.  The cub’s bottom is likely raw and sore from the diarrhea.  You can hear the cub scream.  You can see the video under “Sick Cubs at Mall” below.

Malls who allow Joe to exhibit are supporting this abuse.  If venues would not allow acts like this, the breeding and suffering would stop.  Fortunately, more and more responsible venues are making the right decision.  For instance, after a cub display at one of their stores, Petsmart recently issued a policy that there would be no exotic animal displays at their U.S. and Canada stores.  In doing so they showed that they truly care about animals.

Joe claims that he has to breed cubs and take them out on the traveling show in order to support the animals at his zoo.   He acknowledges that this is wrong when he says in a Facebook post that he does not want to do this but is “forced to” in order to make money to support the animals at the zoo.  Joe is only forced to do this as a result of his own bad decisions and lack of caring for animals.

Joe’s latest argument to justify his rampant breeding (which he calls “selective”) is that he is doing a public service because by supplying a cub to every zoo and exhibitor who wants a tiger, he is putting out of business the “back yard breeders.”  This is a little bit like John Dillinger claiming he was doing public service by putting other bank robbers out of business because he had robbed all the banks.  It does not matter who is breeding tigers to make money from cubs and then discarding them to a life of misery.  It is just wrong.

The fact is that real sanctuaries all around the country are able to support their rescue and animal care work without adding to the problem by breeding and without abusing animals to make money.  They do that by operating facilities that have excellent animal care that donors appreciate and want to support.  They also do that by being financially responsible and not taking in more animals than they can support.

The fact that true sanctuaries all of over the country do support their animals without tormenting innocent cubs proves that it can be done.  If Joe cannot do the right thing for the animals, he should not be collecting them. If real sanctuaries around the county are capable of doing this, why can’t Joe?

Joe’s website says his zoo was started in 1999 as a way to honor his deceased brother, who reportedly loved animals.  Joe could have done exactly that.  He could have built a real sanctuary by taking in animals and giving them the kind of care that would have touched the hearts of donors who would have supported him like other real sanctuaries have done.  He says on his website that in 2005 he “grew away from the word ‘Sanctuary’ … because everyone wanted to dictate how you run a business as a sanctuary, but no one wanted to help pay the bills.”

Regarding having others “dictate”, yes, to be a real sanctuary, you have to meet certain standards of animal care. The animal abuse documented in USDA violations from 2000 to 2015, discussed below, shows he never was a sanctuary.  He could have invested time in learning the skills needed to run a true sanctuary, including how to run the financial side of a nonprofit.  He could have built a place that would have been a true tribute to a deceased animal lover.  He did not.

Young Children Bitten at GW Park

https://youtu.be/Mc0IdnJ9WKM

Before going into the details about Joe’s exploitation and lies, below are three videos taken in September 2011 by visitors to GW Park.  According to a USDA Fact Sheet, cubs under 8 weeks old should not be petted because their immune systems have not sufficiently developed to prevent disease.  Separately, USDA guidance forbids petting cubs over 12 weeks of age because they are dangerous.  (See 2010 in the Palazzo case upholding USDA position established in 2004).

In these three short videos you see GWPark employees blatantly violating these USDA policies and endangering the cubs and the public.  In the videos the handlers acknowledge that the cubs are 14, 15, 16, 19 or 20 weeks old.  In one video you hear the handlers laughing about a child being bitten by one of the overage cubs and being taken in to see under age cubs to appease the family.  Remarkably, just one week later, with a handler lying by saying “we have never had an incident,”  the video shows a young child jumped on and bitten by a 20 week old cub.  After that, even though in both videos the handlers talk about the smaller cubs having weak immune systems which makes public contact dangerous for them, the park manager brings out a tiny two week old cub to appease the crowd.  He allows two and three people to grope at the cub at a time.  He only stops when the poor cub, who is so young that its eyes are not even open yet, starts squealing loudly and desperately tries to climb away to avoid the petting.

As a practical matter, USDA inspectors are never going to see the animals mistreated or see animals that are too young or too old being used this way.  The inspectors do not do undercover work, they announce themselves on arrival.  An individual who worked at GW Park tells us that when the inspector arrives, someone at the park announces “USDA on the property” and some individuals are assigned to delay the inspectors while others run around filling water bowls and stop any behavior that could result in citation.  As you watch the tiny cub squealing in discomfort and fear in the third video, knowing that each of the hands you see groping at him is a threat to his infant weak immune system, and as you hear the handlers in the first video chuckle about a child being bitten, and as you see Schreibvogel in the video at the top of this page strike a tiny cub with a pole and say “just pop ’em in the ass,” ask yourself if you think Joe Schreibvogel is someone who loves animals.  Does someone who loves animals torment tiny cubs to make money?   And if you are a venue that permits his traveling exhibit to set up in your mall or fair, aside from the potential liability, is this kind of treatment of animals what you want to support?

Underage Cubs Used to Appease Crowd After Child Bitten

https://youtu.be/CrRlCgC5MBU

Sick Cubs at Mall

 Joe Schreibvogel Exposed by Inside Edition

https://youtu.be/8Q26FgFOPzw

HISTORY OF ANIMAL ABUSE

USDA VIOLATIONS

Instead of creating a sanctuary, Joe created a facility that in its early years, 2000 – 2004, was cited repeatedly by USDA for serious violations of the minimum standards of the Animal Welfare Act.  USDA has limited enforcement resources.  They can only take a few animal abusers to court, so they reserve that for only the most blatant cases.  Typically they will issue citations for years, giving the licensee every opportunity to correct the out of compliance conditions before they consider filing a lawsuit. After years of citations they finally sued Joe.  In April 2005 the agency filed a 20-page complaint against Joe with numerous charges, including the following:

* Failure to provide adequate veterinary care
* Failure to handle animals so that there was minimal risk of harm to the animal and to the public
* An incident in which a tiger escaped from his enclosure and attacked and seriously wounded a camel
* Transportation of 15 tigers and lions in a manner that allowed urine, feces, or both to contaminate the animals caged below
* Lack of potable water for 18 lions, 23 tigers, 15 bears, 20 cougars, three leopards, and a pig
* Lack of employees present to provide care to 80 large, dangerous cats
* Lack of knowledge by employees about how often the animals were fed
* Filthy, wet, unsafe, and dilapidated enclosures
* Failure to handle animals in a manner that does not cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, or unnecessary discomfort
* Failure to provide animals with minimum space
* Exposed live, bare wires in tiger nursery play area

In July 25, 2017 USDA licensees (We believe Beth Corley is just another alias for Joe because she hasn’t been reported at this facility since about 2011) at this facility were cited for failure to keep accurate acquisition and disposal records on the animals, including a lack of reporting who and where animals came from or went, and failure to keep an accurate census.  Read the USDA violation.

On May 15, 2017 a tiger escaped her enclosure and was noticed wandering the grounds at feeding time.  The tiger was reportedly shot to death by Joe.  Read the USDA violation.

On October 19, 2016 licensees were cited for injury to a tiger due to feeding a large group of tigers in a single pen by throwing meat into the frenzy.  They were also cited for rancid meat left to rot on top of the shade stands from the same practice.  Reach the USDA violation.

On May 19, 2016 licensees were cited for failing to throw out medication that was two years passed the expiry date.  A live mouse was seen on the floor of the lemur cage and a half eaten mouse was in the capuchin cage in the medical building.  The report states there is no professional vermin control measure in practice.  Instead they said they put out poison…poison that could be consumed by the rats and then by the primates. Read the USDA violations.

On February 1, 2016 Joe Maldonado was cited for failure to provide sufficient barriers between the public and adult lions and tigers. He was also cited for rusting metal panels in the baboon enclosure that had sharp edges around the hole that could harm the primates.  Read his USDA violations.

On the same day, Feb. 1, 2016 Beth Corley (We believe Beth Corley is just another alias for Joe because she hasn’t been reported at this facility since about 2011) was blamed for not including 14 tigers in the census that came from Serenity Springs on 12/18/15.  Read that USDA violation.

In November 2015 Schreibvogel / Maldonado was cited for dangerous conditions for his cubs who were being raised in a room with “live, bare electrical wires” and glass window panes within reach of the cubs that could provide both injury or a way of escape.  He was also cited for improper handling of food for the animals.  Records indicate 99 tigers at this time.  Read the USDA violation.

In August 2015 Schreibvogel / Maldonado was cited for displaying a 19 day old liger cub at the Mississippi State Fair. Read the USDA violation.

In July 2015 Schreibvogel / Maldonado was cited for fly infestation, filthy food bowls, inadequate methods of temperature control for primates, unsafe fencing and more. Read the USDA violations.

In March 2015 Schreibvogel / Maldonado was cited for a “trail of rodent droppings” on the rails between cages, food stored on the floors, dirty food receptacles, rotting meat on top of the cages, where keepers had apparently tried to throw it into the cages and failed, a decomposing rat that was intended as food, no shade for a tiger named Batista and more. Read the USDA violations.

In August 2014 Schreibvogel was cited for standing water, food and waste in an open ditch next to the primates, described by the inspector as “an open sewer,” unsafe caging, “numerous wasps” in the primate shed, tigers being kept in a cage where the gate hinge had “rusted through”, “significant” rust in a support pole, no water and no water bowls in the grizzly cage, rancid meat on the floor of the tiger cage that was covered in maggots, numerous ants and food stuck in the feed chutes that was covered in ants. At this time records show 100 tigers.  Twenty one more tigers than just 5 months ago.   Read the USDA violations.

In April 2014 Schreibvogel was cited because a bear, named Crybaby, had been injured on April 2, resulting in a 4-8 inch long laceration.  The vet was said to have stitched up the bear, but the wound was reopened 3 days later.  Apparently Joe re stitched the bear, without the vet, but on April 14 workers reported that the wound was open.  The vet came on April 15 and euthanized the bear.  He was cited for failing to have the vet care for the injured bear between April 5 and April 15.

In March 2014 Schreibvogel was cited for inadequate vet care, rusty cages with sharp, protruding edges, a missing plank in the tiger’s walkway and exposed screw.  At this time Joe claimed to own 79 tigers, which is 15 fewer tigers than this same time last year.  Read the USDA violations.

In March 2013 Schreibvogel was cited for fencing and a gate that was leaning and sagging and could provide a means of escape, a broken roof in a tiger’s enclosure, inadequate shade.  At this time records indicated 94 tigers. Read the USDA violations.

In January 2006 Schreibvogel consented to a $25,000 fine and a probation period. Based on inspections since, hopefully conditions have improved.  But, for over five years before USDA forced changes, the animals Joe “rescued” were subjected to the horrible conditions USDA cited.

In September 2009 USDA issued a warning notice for alleged violations of the AWA handling requirements stemming from separate incidents that occurred in 2007 and 2008, one involving a customer injured by a lion cub.

On September 13, 2011 Schreibvogel was cited by USDA for failing to provide veterinary care to two animals.

On December 1, 2011 Schreibvogel was cited by USDA for improper handling related to an incident in September 2011 at GW Park where young boy was injured by a tiger cub.

23 CUBS DIED AT GW PARK

Schreibvogel is currently under investigation by USDA for the deaths of 23 tiger cubs and separately for other possible violations of the AWA.  The cubs died between April 2009 and May 2010 according to what Joe’s people reported to the FDA.  Any responsible facility would have done necropsies on the  initial deaths.  Joe finally did necropsies on one or two of the last cubs to die and called in FDA to test the formula.  The necropsies indicated curdled milk formula in the stomachs of the cubs.  So, Joe insists that the cubs were killed by “bad formula.”  But, the FDA testing of the samples Joe provided and of samples from the manufacturer found nothing wrong with the formula.  This formula must be stored, handled, mixed and administered properly.  Since FDA found nothing wrong with the formula itself, if the cubs did die from the formula, the most logical conclusion is that it was because Joe’s staff did not do one or more of these activities properly.

PETA INVESTIGATION

Between February and June 2006, a PETA investigator working at GW Exotics kept a log documenting a pattern of abuse.  These included animals seriously injured from fighting, food dishes teeming with maggots, hungry animals who went without food, animals who were abused and beaten by staff.  For instance, here are two examples from http://www.peta.org/features/gw-the-animals.aspx:

JULIE, THE THREE-LEGGED LION

On his first day on the job, PETA’s investigator met Julie, a three-legged lioness, who had a bloody, raw, and gaping hole where her right front leg used to be. Julie had been attacked by two tigers who literally chewed and tore her leg off and then ate it. The remaining stump of her leg had to be amputated and when she pulled out the stitches, Julie’s open wound went untreated.Though she moaned and whimpered for days, she was given nothing for pain. Julie languished in a small and barren indoor cage on a concrete floor with nothing more than a small towel for comfort. Although she was bred and born at the zoo, [J1] tells people that he “rescued” Julie and that she was injured before coming to the zoo.

‘THE VEGAS TIGERS’

GW’s Holiday 2005 newsletter reported that the Fercos Bros., a Siegfried & Roy wannabe magic act in Las Vegas, gave the park two male tigers who had “outgrown” the stage. Two days after PETA’s investigator started working at the park, the “Vegas tigers,” as they were called, were killed by lethal injection because staff decided they were “mean.”

Reportedly, the tigers’ teeth were cut out, and one was decapitated and his head given to the veterinarian’s husband to be mounted. When the Fercos came to visit the tigers in June, they were told that the cats were killed when lightning struck their cage during a storm.

Below is a video by the investigator showing a dying horse left suffering, workers beating animals with tools, and a worker explaining how they forge the feeding log to say animals were fed that were not because USDA had no way to prove otherwise.

According to one report “PETA activists took their recordings to law enforcement, but no charges were filed after authorities said no criminal activity occurred in the videos they viewed. Federal agents inspected the park twice after the videos were released and found no violations. Schreibvogel claimed the PETA videos took out of context what was going on, but did admit he had fired four of the employees featured in the investigation.” Although authorities decided not to file criminal charges, it is hard to imagine the behavior in this video not being animal abuse no matter what the “context.”

For more on PeTA’s investigation visit http://www.peta.org/features/gw.aspx

 

IS JOE AN ANIMAL LOVER?

https://youtu.be/zoBoXm7SuNQ

Allowing animals to suffer horrible conditions for years until USDA forced him to correct them clearly contradicts Joe’s claim to be a lover of animals. His current argument that he should be allowed to abuse cubs and subject a steady stream of them to lifelong misery in order to support those he has collected raises further doubts. He accepts animals from places known for animal abuse without regard for the fact that these places continue to operate and abuse more animals. Is that a rescuer, or someone just building the “world’s largest” big cat zoo to satisfy his ego?

IS JOE A PERSON OF CHARACTER AND PROFESSIONALISM?

To get an insight into Joe’s character, let’s look at a few examples of his behavior.

Photos of PETA and BCR effigies being killed. One of his responses to criticism from PETA and BIG CAT RESCUE was to post photos on his Facebook page showing figures labeled PETA and BCR with guns to their heads, hangman’s nooses around their necks, and a bow and arrow pointed at them.

If you are a manager of a mall reading this, is this the kind of person you want to be associated with?

Photo shooting polar bear cub. One mall executive found out how professional Joe is when his company decided they did not want to be associated with Joe’s abuse. Joe, using one of his “stage names” Aarron Alex, accused the management company online of “supporting the killing of animals” and posted a photo with his proposed boycott of their properties showing a polar bear plush toy with a handgun to its head and the title “If Mama Don’t Want It Don’t Nobody Want It.”

If you were a mall owner or manager, is this the kind of vendor you want?

Registering URLs in Name of Dead Person. Another rather bizarre behavior is that in recent years Joe has been in the habit of registering new internet URL’s using the name Brian Rhyne, who the GW website said died in 2001. What kind of person uses a dead man’s name to register their websites? Recently Joe has been changing some of these, perhaps as a result of this strange behavior being commented upon online.

Crude, sexually oriented comments and lies.  Joe and a small band of cronies, most of whom are people who support subjecting exotic animals to the unsuitable condition of being pets, constantly post blatant lies, sometimes sexually oriented, about his critics.  Some of the Facebook identities making these comments are fake identities set up by Joe or this group.  For instance, it is hard to imagine that his Facebook supporter “Carole Backsins” is anything more than a shallow and childish alteration of the name of Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue.

JOE’S MULTIPLE COMPANY NAMES AND PERSONAL NAMES

Joe Schreibvogel Maldonado-Passage is or has also known individually as:

 

 Joe Exotic

Aarron Alex

Cody Ryan

 

And doing business as:

 

5 Continent Productions

Garold Wayne Interactive Zoo

G.W. Exotic Animal Foundation

G.W. Exotic Animal Park

G.W. Exotic Memorial Animal Foundation

G.W. Exotic Memorial Animal Park

Alex Productions

Awakening Productions

Awakening Rescue

Big Cat Rescue Entertainment Group

Corley’s Exotics

Mystical Magic of the Endangered

Tigers in Need

Welch’s Entertainment Group

Welch’s Tiger Experience

Welch’s Great Cat Adventure

World Magic

and others.

What about all those company names listed above? One of the most basic principles in marketing is to develop a consistent brand image. The problem for Joe is that his brand is tainted by his animal abuse, so he keeps making up new names. He really went to town in 2010 adding at least four of the names listed above.

He says he uses different names to avoid the “animal activists.” Joe is not fooling any of the people who fight to protect animals and want him to stop abusing the cubs. They find him no matter what entity name he uses. The only people he can fool this way are the members of the public. One individual, Aaron Wissner, whose posts indicate he simply was concerned at what he saw at a mall and wanted to find out who “Tigers in Need” was, spent what had to be hours researching. Some of his information came from prior versions of this page, but much he obtained elsewhere. A URL to his research appears at the bottom of this page.

Joe’s Names. In addition to using his own name, Joe has performed his magic act using Joe Exotic, Aarron Alex, and Cody Ryan. Cody Ryan frequently performs as a duo with a man named Aaron Stone. Joe posts disparaging remarks about his critics under both his own name and Aarron Alex, and Aaron Stone has shown up with similar comments as a “volunteer” on at least one post.

Joe’s Accomplices. Joe has two accomplices in the subterfuge of his entity “name game.” One is Beth Corley. Joe has one USDA license. Beth Corley has her own license, registered at the same address as Joe’s, i.e. the G.W. Animal Park address. The other accomplice is Vicky Welch, spelled with a “y” in news reports, but with an “i” when Joe uses her name to register URL’s for the new names he makes up for the magic act and cub display. She travels with the show and has been referred to in the press as “road manager and animal caretaker” for Awakening Productions.

Are they all interconnected? It would take too long to give details on each here. We have built an excel spreadsheet sorting out his maze. Some names are registered as Trade Names of G.W. Exotics. Others are separate corporations. And still others are not registered at all with the Oklahoma Secretary of State nor show up on the IRS.gov site as nonprofits even though they claim to be.

Just for example, let’s look at one person and one entity.

Beth Corley. As mentioned, Beth has a USDA license registered at Joe’s address. Beth is referred to in an online news story posted by Joe as “Director” of Big Cat Rescue Entertainment. She is referred to by a reporter for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, IN as “Beth Corley, a worker with Big Cat Rescue” (failing to include the “Entertainment”). A report in The Telegraph on the exhibit at the Alton Square Mall in Alton, IL in July 2010 refers to “Beth Corley, co-founder of Welch’s Entertainment.” The Fremont Tribune from Fremont, NE on 1-28-10 refers to “Corley’s Exotics, run by Beth Corley of G.W. Exotic Animal Park.”

Tigers In Need. Now, let’s take one entity, or one name since it does not actually appear to be an entity, “Tigers In Need”. As of this writing, we could not find it registered as a Trade Name nor as a separate Corporation, so it appears to be just a made up name. One advantage, assuming that is intentional, is that it is difficult to know who “owns” it. Below is a list of some of the ways in which Tiger In Need is connected to the other entities and accomplice names:

1) The URL tigersinneed.org was registered 1/30/10. Before 7/29/10 the WHOIS report showed Registrant Name was “Tigers in need” and Registrant Email was Joe_Exotic@Yahoo.com. On 7-29-10 the registration was changed to show Registrant Name as Vicki Welch and Registrant Email left blank.

2) The tigersinneed.org website has a description that clearly is GW Park. It refers to being started in 1999 in Southern Oklahoma and having over 150 big cats. It says “Please note that we are a non-profit organization and are not affiliated with any other company”, when it clearly is the same facility as the GW Exotic zoo.

3) The “Contact Us” link at tigersinneed.org brings up “Florida Office 813-361-9611”, the same phone being used by Big Cat Rescue Entertainment.

4) The “Guestbook” link at tigersinneed.org contains comments from visitors to the Alton Mall in July. The Alton, IL newspaper, The Telegraph, reporting on the show at the mall, refers to the cats being “just a few of the 150 or so from the Tigers In Need refuge in Wynnewood, Okla. Welch’s Entertainment holds the tours…to raise money for Tigers In Need.” It quotes “Beth Corley, co-founder of Welch’s Entertainment.”

5) The Davis County Clipper 7-27-10 in Bountiful, UT refers to Welch’s Tiger Experience also being called Tigers in Need.

6) An event notice on the East Town Mall website was titled Tigers in Need formally (sic – formerly) Awakening Productions.

What kind of person creates a maze of entities like this, and for what legitimate purpose?

JOE’S FALSEHOODS

Joe and his employee Bobbi Corona have a total disregard for the truth that is remarkable. He says and writes whatever nonsense he decides to make up. PeTA identified statements about his breeding and selling that they show to be false at http://www.peta.org/features/gw-exotic-animal-trade.aspx

Here are some examples where Joe misleads or issues totally false statements:

Tigers In Need Nonprofit and Not Affiliated. His many names and entities and the deception that they foist on the public are discussed above. A number of his entities, like Tigers In Need, have claimed on their websites, literature and press reports to be “nonprofit.” They do not show up as registered trade names of a nonprofit, nor on the IRS site under their own names. G.W. Exotic Animal Park is a nonprofit, so maybe Joe thinks that any name he wants to call it by becomes a nonprofit, even when he is denying that the name is associated with GW. The other deception is the idea that these are not related. Tigers In Need, which clearly is just another name for the GW Animal Park, has on its website at this writing “we… are not affiliated with any other company”, an obviously false statement.  Then, in his depositions in our lawsuit, he did an about face and says that G.W. Exotic Animal Park, Tigers in Need and Big Cat Rescue Entertainment are all the same.  He claims he never intended to file Big Cat Rescue Entertainment as a separate company, it should have been a d/b/a.  This is in spite of the fact that he first registered it as a d/b/a, then redrew that registration and filed it as a separate corporation.

Howard Baskin cub display video. Howard Baskin, husband of Carole Baskin from Big Cat Rescue, went undercover at a tiger cub exhibit to get video showing the cubs’ distress and the exhibitor’s lies. He then made a video explaining in detail why these exhibits are abusive and provided details about the particular exhibitor involved and the poor conditions at her facility. The video included the video clip at the top of this page showing Joe’s cubs with diarrhea. You can see the 6 minute video at http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

What did Joe do? He issued a “press release” on PRLog claiming that Carole does not know that “her husband has been going behind her back to either pet or play with a baby tiger cub.” He quoted the owner of the exhibit, someone who says Joe “donated” a cub to her, as saying “Maybe this is how he gets his kicks since he cant (sic) get them at home…” So, Joe, Howard Baskin goes behind his wife’s back to pet tiger cubs, then makes a video and has her post it on the Big Cat Rescue website. Pretty darn sneaky of him. Surely she will never know. Does a truthful person of character post a press release like this?

Joe claims he is no longer the one displaying the cubs. This one is a gem. Joe recently started saying that people concerned about the abuse in the cub exhibit should leave him alone and are lying if they associate him with it because the cub exhibit is under the USDA license of another person. In a Facebook post 11/4/10 Joe says “I DON’T USE CUBS (his caps) anylonger (sic), all I do is Magic shows.”

Let’s think about that one. The USDA licensee is now not Joe. It is Beth Corley. But her license is registered at the same address as his and she has historically travelled with the show. Her connections to his various entities are detailed above. The proceeds of the show are still advertised as going to Tigers In Need, basically just another made up name for Joe’s GW Exotics Animal Park as shown above. So the show still benefits Joe’s zoo. But since the cubs are technically registered under his co-worker’s license Joe has nothing to do with the cubs show? Sure, Joe.

Breeding “A Select Few”. Joe says he breeds “a select few.” Were the 23 cubs that died mid 2010 a select few? He is constantly breeding to supply his road show. He can be heard in the PeTA video yelling at the cats to breed because he needed cubs for the road show.

Laws restricting private ownership cause abandonment. The GW Exotic website “About” page claims the laws banning private exotic animal ownership are the cause of the abandonment of exotics that Joe has to rescue. This is utter nonsense. New bans typically grandfather in private owners. But more importantly, it is private ownership that causes the abandonment. If private ownership were banned nationwide, which it should be like it is in many states and many other nations, there would be NO abandonment because no private owners would have them!

The steady increase in legislation banning private ownership represents recognition by our society that private ownership leads to massive abuse. Social values evolve. It took decades to ban slavery in England and for women to win the right to vote in America. Those ideas started out as “radical”, held by a small minority. Gradually more and more people understood and agreed until they became a part of our value system that we take for granted today. The same trend is happening with private ownership of exotics. Gradually more and more people are realizing that this simply leads to widespread abuse of these animals. The best evidence of this is the accelerating trend in state laws. Just since 2005 eight more states have passed some level of ban.

GW Exotic is “Accredited”. Joe says he is “accredited”.  He is accredited by United States Zoological Association. Tis is an organization Joe himself created in August 2008. The Registered Agent for USZA in the Oklahoma Secretary of State records is Joe Schreibogel.  When he set up the USZA.us website, he used his email address, but listed the Registered Agent as Brian Rhyne, a man who Joe’s own website said died in 2001.  In one fax Joe claims USZA has “nearly 2 million supporters,” another blatant lie.

What kind of organization is it? The USZA website has a page where people can list exotic animals they want to give away, sell or buy. On 11/7/10 the section listing cats for sale offered “baby white tigers” with the notation “great breed stock”. The sellers are only listed by a code. This code for this seller was “600 OK”. As in Oklahoma. Most likely Joe.

Joe refers to his park as a zoo.  The recognized accrediting body in the zoo industry is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  Joe is not accredited by AZA.  Being accredited implies having been reviewed by some independent organization and found to have met certain standards.   Forming your own entity to accredit yourself does not qualify as “accredited.”

People Magazine cover.  On his Facebook page for “Joe Exotic” Joe shows “Cody Ryan” ( aka Joe) and Aaron Stone on the cover of People Magazine for “September 2010”, giving the impression they were actually on that cover. They were not.

Joe is Police Chief. On Examiner.com Joe says he “is a former police chief of the Colony Tx…”.

The Colony website http://www.ci.the-colony.tx.us/Depts/pd/PoliceHistory.html contains the list of past and present police chiefs below. The policeman we spoke with by phone at The Colony police department advised that Joe Schreibvogel was never an officer there.

Since The Colony was formed, it has had 6 Chiefs of Police:
Jim Beltran August 1977 to May 1978
John Steinseck July 1978 to September 1979
Nick Ristagno Jan 1980 to April 1990
Ted Gibson December 1990 to February 1992
Bruce Stewart December 1992 to September 1995
Joe Clark April 1996 to Present

Other places Joe mentions being an officer, then Chief, of Eastvale, TX, a small town of about 500 people that years later merged into The Colony.

Disparagement of Big Cat Rescue. Joe has become almost obsessed with disparaging Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue. He set up a website for this purpose. The “About” section contains the obvious lie that the site is written by “a group of independent reporters.” Sure, Joe.

In March 2010 he visited Big Cat Rescue as a tour guest, took photos, then captioned them with ridiculous lies. In September 2010 he visited again, this time taking a video of the tour. He made nonsensical comments into the microphone during the tour, including childish insults about the hard working volunteers he saw, then added captions with false statements like he did with his photos. He then flew low over the sanctuary for an extended period of time in a helicopter stressing the cats (not the act of someone who loves animals.)

A few examples of his false statements:

1) He questions the guide’s reference to Big Cat Rescue being accredited with a caption asking by whom. As he knows, the accreditation is by the Global Federation of Sanctuaries whose board is composed of members to the largest animal protection organizations.

2) He claims Carole is getting rich from the sanctuary. Carole has worked for 17 years without any salary or other compensation. In fact she donated the land, some investment properties, and made substantial cash donations. After 9/11 when tourism stopped and donations diminished she was selling her car and personal household belongings to pay for food for the cats.

3) He makes sarcastic, ridiculous comments about cage sizes and cleanliness that anyone who visits would realize are total nonsense. For instance, he shows a small portion of a cage and presents it as the entire cage. Or, he shows a structure made of small logs we built just for the cat’s entertainment and claims it is the den and the cat does not have proper shelter, when in fact the real den is nearby and Joe knows it.

Joe, using his alias Aarron Alex, misused the Care2 Petition site to post his photos and start a petition. Martha Hoffman, a person who had visited Big Cat Rescue a number of times, took the time to write to Care2 documenting the false statements. The last sentence of her first paragraph pretty much says it all:

“I am writing in regard to the BCR sanctuary and the accusations lodged by Aarron Alex. My husband and I are residents of Florida, living on the east coast. We have on numerous occasions visited the BCR participating in the different tours offered. Therefore we have walked the premises at different hours and NEVER have we seen anything in the context of what Mr. Aarron Alex has presented. He purposely distorts every single picture.”

To read the full text of her post where she explains the distortions in detail click here.

Finally, one of Joe’s more absurd posts implies that USDA does not do anything about his bogus complaints because “word has it that she (Carole) has a USDA person living on her property.” Sure Joe – and do Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa share a house with the mysterious “USDA person?”

Joe clearly does not have the slightest concern about whether what he says or writes is true. He makes up whatever he thinks will serve his purpose. The strange part is that he makes statements that are so obviously and outrageously not true. He does not even TRY to keep within the bounds of something that would make sense and be believable, except perhaps to his exotic animal owner following.

LACK OF FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Credible nonprofits display their financials to proudly show that they are good shepherds of their donors’ contributions. At this writing, none of Joe’s related entities have financial information on their websites. Some of the entities were formed too recently to have filed the required nonprofit IRS form 990, and the G.W. Exotics 990 for 2009 does not yet appear on Guidestar, so the only financial information available is GW Exotic’s 2008 Form 990.

For revenue, the 2008 Form 990 shows $501k in donations and $9k in sales of inventory. Expenses were $447k, with only $3k in salaries and only $48k in animal feed. If food was donated, it is supposed to be recorded as a “noncash” donation and included in the contribution number. So they spent $34/year per animal for food. This is not possible. And salaries of only $3k? Something does not add up. Meantime, Beth Corley is quoted in the press as saying it takes $60k/month to care for their 156 tigers, or $720k/year. They may have had fewer tigers in 2008, but what about the 1200+ other animals?

The 990 shows G.W. Exotic owning about $400k in Land, Buildings, and Equipment. But, this does not include the 16 acres the park sits on. According to county records, Joe owns that personally.

Joe says he displays the cubs to make money to support the park. He recently reported making a record $23,697 in five days. Imagine how many people had to handle these poor cubs in those five days to generate that. Think about how you would feel if that were a human baby. Is it really so much different for a tiger cub that at that age should be spending long hours sleeping just like a human baby?

COMMENTS AND RESEARCH BY OTHERS

Others have either done homework on Joe or posted comments that provide additional information.

PeTA. PeTA’s webite is referenced above. It mentions documents in which Joe has made false statements. It also provides a list of the other disreputable exotic animal breeders, exhibitors, etc. with whom Joe deals in his rescuing and placing of animals. See http://www.peta.org/features/gw.aspx  Joe repeatedly refers to this undercover work as “faked” or a “frame job,” which is absolutely absurd.

CONCLUSION

Joe Schreibvogel is one of the best examples in the nation of why private ownership of big cats should be banned. He has a history of abuse, breeds big cats adding to the number that live a miserable life in small cages, breeds and takes in more than he can financially support, and justifies the current abuse by saying he needs to do it to make money to support the other animals. He shows himself to be totally devoid of integrity and professionalism with his inappropriate photos depicting violence against his critics and by constantly posting material online that he knows is devoid of any semblance of truth.

Venues who host exhibits like this and the public who “pay to play” don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. We hope the information on this page helps. The best way to stop this form of abuse is to have venues and the public understand what really happens to these animals and choose not to support the misery Joe and those like him create.

Joe prefers to be a zoo rather than a sanctuary. Two individuals who say they know Joe say he has told them his goal is to be the “world’s largest” animal facility. But he could make a different choice. If Joe took all the time he spends online ranting untruths about those who object to his abuse of these cubs and devoted it to trying to learn the skills necessary to operate a real sanctuary, and if he focused on having a number of animals that he could reasonably support instead of being “the world’s largest”, he might be able to support his animals without having to abuse some to do it. No one who runs a real sanctuary will tell you it is easy, and Joe might not be able to do it. But that is not a reason to let him continue to breed and abuse generation after generation of innocent cubs.

PAGES REFERRED TO ABOVE

Marsha Hoffman letter to Care2 re Aarron Alex Petition disparaging Big Cat Rescue

TO: Care2

I am writing in regard to the BCR sanctuary and the accusations lodged by Aarron Alex.My husband and I are residents of Florida, living on the east coast. We have on numerous occasions visited the BCR participating in the different tours offered. Therefore we have walked the premises at different hours and NEVER have we seen anything in the context of what Mr. Aarron Alex has presented. He purposely distorts every single picture.

First, I would like to address the various tours / money making claim. To the credit of the BCR their tours are considerably smaller than those of other sanctuaries we have visited. Total number of people for day tours is 20 people. This is done so as not to upset the animals. The price of their tours are very much in line with other sanctuaries .. in some cases less. Public is NOT permitted to wander around outside of the tour as in other sanctuaries. While the tours do provide income, that money is used for the benefit of the inhabitants and the wonderful education provided by BCR in regard to exotic animals. I don’t understand this complaint. Seems to me they are just reaching for something that isn’t there to try to discredit this sanctuary especially because they charge for their zoo. BCR, like every other sanctuary, need income to provide for the care of the animals. He complains that Carole Baskin did not do the tour – as they are done by volunteers. Ms. Baskin has a sanctuary to run that is why she has volunteers do the tours.

Further Ms.Baskin’s only concern/interest is that of the welfare of the animals. The BCR is a true sanctuary. Animals are not exploited, do not do tricks, are not handled by the public etc .. which is in complete contrast to the “sanctuary” zoo Mr. Aarron Alex is associated with. See -http://www.gwpark.org/ – BCR on the other hand, is a quiet, peaceful place for animals to live out their lives as close to their natural habitats as possible.

As far as the pictures go I am appalled at the distortions. Pictures were taken of the animals close up and do not show full enclosures. Yes, several of the enclosures are round, but what Alex neglected to say is how large they are .. ranging from actually one full acre to smaller ones for smaller cats. Pictures of cats resting on rocks, or sitting in a hut/cave are close ups and do not show the background.

Examples of distortion and lies ..

1 – Cat sitting in small cage with water dish … This is the feeding cage. Every animal has it’s own cage to go to when their food is distributed. As a matter of fact, if one is at the BCR a half hour or so, before feeding, due to the schedule one would see animals sitting patiently in their feeding cage waiting for the feeding. Animals are given any necessary medications and carefully observed while in these small cages. Also it is at this time that keepers clean out the enclosures.

2 – Wild feral cats roaming around. This is absolutely not true. The domestic cats are all friendly felines who come up to people during tours for belly rubs, ears to be scratched and the treats the various volunteers/staff carry with them. I have never seen a feral cat in the area. If you look at the cat Alex has taken a picture of, you will see a very healthy animal, well groomed and certainly well fed. All domestic cats are taken for their shots and cared for/loved every bit as well as the big cats.

3 – Dead trees …. each year different organizations/stores donate unsold Christmas trees – this is simply to add variety to the enclosures and make them more jungle like. These trees bring new smells for the animals and offer something new to investigate.

4 – Poop in enclosures. We have never ever seen unclean enclosures. The staff is constantly cleaning and maintaining the enclosures. Again a factor for the small feeding cages. These cages lock while the animal is feeding and gives the staff ample time to maintain healthy clean enclosures. See point #1.

5 – There is a picture of a tiger lying by the side of the enclosure, but if you look closely, you will see green grass in the background and a pond. This is the “round” enclosure Alex speaks about ………however, he neglects to say it is one acre in size and has a pond for the tigers to swim in.

6 – Black big cat on a rock …. this is where the animal goes to sun himself – the entire rest of the enclosure is conveniently cut out of the picture. There are trees to climb, grass to roll in and a den to hide in ……..not in the picture though.

7 – He portrays huts/dens as horrible small caves where the animals huddle in. These dens or huts are usually in the middle of an enclosure and true to natural habitats of cats where they sleep, have their cubs and spend a good deal of their time. Once again he has conveniently eliminated the large area that house these huts/dens.

8 – There is a tiger lying down on it’s back, with all four legs in the air and belly exposed. What Alex evidently does not understand is that cats, wild or domestic will only take this position if they are truly secure and content. This position makes a cat very vulnerable to attack from a predator. Obviously this tiger is full of trust and totally comfortable in its surroundings.

9 – Three legged Serval. Desiree was rescued from the side of a road in AZ that way. Aarron Alex tries to make the reader believe that this happened to the Serval while it was at BCR ……..a bold faced lie!

I would like to invite you to visit http://www.bigcatrescue.org/videos and view the various videos they have about their sanctuary. You will see how it disputes everything presented by this man. Then go to …https://911animalabuse.com/00abusers/GWExotics.htm. Quite a contrast. In Aarron Alex’s write up which accompanies the petition he has the audacity to accuse the BCR of exploiting animals for money when his so called “sanctuary” does exactly that. BCR is not a show place – instead it is a true sanctuary for animals to live out their lives in dignity and peace. Enclosures are not done in glittering, elaborate circus like manner – instead they are done in a calm, tranquil, soothing way to exemplify the natural habitat of each animal.

I respectfully request that you remove this petition due to the untruths, deceptions and blatant distortions. Mr. Aarron Alex obviously went to there for the sole purpose of causing trouble. He knew exactly what he was doing and wanted to accomplish. Please don’t be a party to this sort of dishonesty.