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Woman in tiger escape sentenced
Three years of probation, fine ordered
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More from Local NewsRoena "Emma" Hedengran was sentenced Monday to three years of probation and four months of home detention for her role in a 2005 incident involving an escaped Siberian tiger that was shot and killed in Moorpark.
Hedengran, who owned the tiger along with her husband, Gert "Abby" Hedengran, also was fined $900 in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, said Thom Mrozek, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman.
Roena Hedengran pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor count of failing to maintain records of exotic felines.
Gert Hedengran was sentenced May 7 by U.S. District Judge George H. King to eight months of home detention. He was also sentenced to three years of probation and fined $900. He will also have to submit to random inspections of his property where he keeps exotic animals. The Hedengrans now live in Parumph, Nev.
In 2005, the couple moved with about 22 exotic cats from a licensed facility in Temecula in Riverside County to an unlicensed facility in Tierra Rejada Valley.
The couple lost their U.S. Department of Agriculture exhibitor license because they failed to notify the department of the move within 10 days.
The couple's lynx escaped in January 2005. After it was found by state game wardens, the property was inspected by USDA officials. During the inspection, Gert Hedengran said the couple had two tigers, when they actually had three.
Gert Hedengran knew that one of the tigers, Tuffy, had escaped and could not be found, court documents state, and he misled investigators as they searched for the missing tiger, which was eventually spotted in a residential area, shot and killed.
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