Tiger beat: Two men sentenced to fines, probation for keeping tiger cub as pet

Two Central Arkansas men who pleaded guilty in October to charges related to keeping a tiger cub as a pet were ordered to pay fines and serve probation by a federal judge Thursday.

Judge James Moody Jr., of the Eastern District of Arkansas, sentenced Keidrick Damond Usifo, 30, of Conway, to five years’ probation and a $5,000 fine and Deon Johnson, 29, of Little Rock, to 18 months’ probation and a $1,000 fine. 

Usifo, who purchased the tiger cub, was indicted on one violation of the Big Cat Public Safety Act and Johnson indicted on one count of misprision of a felony for helping conceal Usifo’s criminal actions.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act, which was enacted by President Joe Biden in 2022 and was partly spurred by the 2020 Netflix documentary Tiger King, makes it illegal to privately possess or breed big cats. Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman was a major opponent of the legislation and called it an overreach.

The illegal trade of exotic animals is a morally reprehensible act for many reasons, but the official story here genuinely sounds like the plot of a movie. (Anyone see “Alligator Man,” S2E1 of FX’s “Atlanta?”)

According to investigators, Usifo purchased a tiger cub in Dallas, Texas, around the middle of March 2023. On April 7, 2023, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that someone had complained about seeing a tiger cub in a residential area of Conway. 

The Game and Fish Commission received several more complaints that month about tiger sightings in Conway, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Authorities arrested Usifo on April 21, 2023, and searched his Conway residence. 

“Although they did not locate the tiger, there was evidence in the residence indicating the presence of a tiger, as well as matching rooms from Usifo’s Instagram posts that displayed a tiger cub,” the press release said.

Usifo was held at the Faulkner County Detention Center after his arrest, and while in jail he made several calls to Johnson, the other man charged in the case. Johnson fed the tiger cub while Usifo was locked up and denied any knowledge of its existence when questioned by investigators, according to the release. 

The tiger seems to be doing OK. It now lives at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Rescue in Eureka Springs, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.