Former Zookeeper Gets 22 Years In Prison For Hiring Hitman To Murder Activist

Joseph, Maldonado Passage, an Oklahoma zookeeper and big cat dealer, was sentenced on Wednesday to 22 years for plotting to have a rival killed and for more than ten wildlife violations, including the killing of several tigers.

Maldonado-Passage or Joe Exotic was convicted in April on 19 federal charges, which brought an end to a two-decade career as a zookeeper, traveling showman, big cat breeder, TV host, and aspiring politician.

He then became tangled in a bitter feud with an animal sanctuary founder in Florida, and a jury found him guilty of trying to arrange the murder of the activist on two occasions.

He made two attempts in 2017 to hire hit-men to travel to Tampa bay to kill Carole Baskin, the animal rights activist.

Maldonado-Passage first paid $3000 to a man to do the job with promises of more after she was killed, but the plot was left alone.

Later during the same year, he offered $10,000 to an undercover federal agent to kill Baskin. The agent recorded their correspondence during a meeting and played for the jury during his trial last April.

In the recording, he gave instructions to the agent to follow her into a mall parking lot, shoot her and drive off.

Baskin also says Maldonado-Passage made a video of himself shooting a blow-up doll that resembled her.

Maldonado-Passage, who maintained his innocence during the entire trial, was also sentenced for selling tiger cubs and killing five tigers, as well as falsifying wildlife records.

He stated that he maintains his innocence and is looking forward in the next days to his lawyers filling an appeal and moving forward.

The defense argued for leniency from the judge, noting that Maldonado-Passage did not have any prior convictions and that because of the poor state of his health, a sentence within the advisory guidelines would amount to a life sentence.

In an interview last year and during the court testimony, Maldonado-Passage claimed he was not serious about killing the sanctuary owner, Baskin, and he denied ever selling the tiger cubs. He told the court the five tigers, he shot and buried at the zoo were euthanized because they were unwell.

However, a federal forensic pathologist that examined the animal carcasses confirmed that they seemed to be healthy at the time of their death.

Brittany Peet, the PETA foundation’s director for captive animal law enforcement, claimed that Maldonado-Passage may be the first captive animal abuser to go to prison for killing and trafficking exotic big cats but that he should not be the last.