Cape couple pleads guilty in tiger case

The two local exotic animal dealers Monday admitted to a bloody side business that involved selling and killing endangered animals.

Todd and Vicki Lantz are among nine defendants in several states indicted for trafficking in federally protected leopards, tigers, cougars and other big cats.

Prosecutors said the Cape Girardeau couple were caught in an undercover investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service targeting a group that profited from the animals' meat and pelts in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

Todd Lantz pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of violating the Endangered Species Act.

In addition, co-defendant Freddy Wilmoth, operator of Wild Wilderness Safari in Gentry, Ark., originally charged with felony conspiracy, pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting. Vicki Lantz also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor aiding and abetting.

All three remain free on $25,000 bonds.

The Lantzes are well-known in the area for their interest in animals, operating the Capetown Safari on County Road 618, Lazy L. Exotics and hosting an annual exotic animal auction. Vicki Lantz's father, David Hale, owns and operates 5-H Ranch, an exotic animal farm on adjoining property.

The Lantzes originally were indicted on several felonies in connection with buying four tigers and bringing them to Cape Girardeau to be killed.

An undercover investigator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said he expects more indictments in the case.

Prosecutor Raymond Meyer said he wasn't at liberty to discuss whether the Lantzes or Wilmoth provided evidence against other suspects in return for their pleas. He said the three cases were sealed until sentencing on May 20.

A multi-state enterprise

Facts read during the hearings described a multi-state enterprise.

Meyer said Todd Lantz purchased four tigers in February 1998 from Wilmoth and drove them from Arkansas to Cape Girardeau.

Wilmoth talked a veterinarian into signing a certificate that the tigers were old and deformed, telling her they would be sold at an auction.

Once the tigers reached Cape Girardeau, the buyer walked to Lantz's trailer, shot and killed them. Another buyer helped gut the animals, and the carcasses were transported to Illinois in a white trailer painted with a Boy Scouts of America logo.

In March 1998, Todd Lantz helped transport nine tigers to Wisconsin, where eight were shot and killed. Since the buyer didn't want the ninth tiger, Lantz brought that one back to Cape Girardeau and sold it to a confidential informant.

On a third occasion in 1998, Todd Lantz transported a tiger, a tiger hybrid and two cougar cubs from Florida to Cape Girardeau, where the cubs were sold, shot and killed, again on the Lantzes' property

Todd Lantz faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. Wilmoth and Vicki Lantz face maximum penalties of a year in prison and $100,000 fines.

As a convicted felon, Todd Lantz will be prohibited from possessing a firearm.

All remain liable for possible restitution, the prosecutor said. Still, the guilty pleas do not prevent the Lantzes or Wilmoth from dealing in exotic animals, Meyer said.

Scott Flaherty, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman, said there is a large market for the hides of tigers, leopards and other big cats. Tiger hides fetch $5,000 to $20,000, depending on their type and condition.

5,000 tigers left

The World Wildlife Fund estimates the world's tiger population has dropped from 100,000 to 5,000 in the last century.

Owning these species of big cats violates no federal law, but killing the animals is prohibited.

Cases are pending against Stoney Elam, 55, of Fort Gibson, Okla., and Timothy Rivers, owner of Animals in Motion in Citra, Fla. Rivers is probably best-known for his controversial diving mule act.

In January 2001, Woody Thompson of Three Rivers, Mich., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit of brokering the sale of three tiger skins. The owner of Willow Lake Sportsmen's Club got a sentence of six months of home detention and a $2,000 fine. A judge also ordered him to pay $28,000 to a Fish and Wildlife Service education fund.

In November, more indictments were unsealed charging three Michigan men with trafficking endangered animals, including the tigers killed in Cape Girardeau.

George F. Riley, 69, of Farmington Hills, Mich., is accused of buying two tiger hides and one black leopard hide; Leonard A. Kruszewski, 40, of Milford, Mich., is accused of purchasing one tiger hide; William Donald Foshee, 43, of Jackson, Mich., is charged with buying a leopard hide.

abuchanan@semissourian.com

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