Animal dealer ‘Mimi Erotic’ surrenders after 5 weeks on the run
An infamous animal dealer from Texas known as “Mimi Erotic” has turned herself i♊n to authorities in California to face federal charges for allegedly transporting an𝔍d selling an endangered jaguar cub.
Trisha Denise Meyer, 40, of Houston, surrendered Tuesday after almost five weeks on the lam 🅘and appeared 💧before a judge in US District Court in Riverside, .
Meyer pleaded not guilty and was released on $15,000 bond – but before she left the cour🅺troom, she was arrested aga🐻in by US Marshals on a bench warrant out of Texas, according to the outlet.
Last month, she was charged in connection with an alleged plot to take the cub, named꧒ Amador, from Texas to California and sell it to a local man for $30,000, The Independent said.
Buyer Abdul Rahman 🧸initially t🌌ook custody of the jaguar cub but changed his mind and sold the animal.
“Rahman did not know how to take care of the jaguar and … quickly became dissatisfied and wanted to get rid of the jaguar by selling it to someone else but was concerned that he would lose money in the transaction,” according to affidavits cited by the outlet.
The cub was later f💯ound at a wildlife sanctuary called Lions, Tigers and Bears, The Independent said.
Investigators found images of the cub on s🦋ocial media and traced its origin to Meyer, who was charged with interstate transportation of an endangered species in the course of commercial activity, interstate sale of an endangered species, trafficking prohibited wildlife species and trafficking endജangered species.
Rahman also was charged in the c𒆙ase, ꧙the outlet said.
The raps stem from alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act, which protect jaguars and prohibit w🀅ildlife trafficking, respectively.
Meyer, who was charged Oct. 5, had disappeared until Tuesday, when she sur𝓡rendered to the feds.
The infamous animal dealer also made headlines in 2016 when police diౠscovered a large male tiger and three tiger cubs, along with monkeys, a skunk, a fox and a cougar, in her Cypress, Texas, home while her then-teen daughter was there.
Houston police were called to the home after Meyerﷺ sold an exot🎐ic Savannah kitten to a California man for $3,000 but never gave him the animal, officials said at the time.
She had permits for the t🦂igers but not🐼 for the skunks and foxes.
In addition to the large male tiger, she admitted to police that the cubs ♍were reaching the age where they could be dangerous♉ – and also said her pet monkeys were “vicious” and that one of them attacks people.
At the time, Meyer fled to Las Vegas and later to Pahrump in Nye County, Nevada, where she was eventually located and her🐻 ti🔯gers confiscated, Chron.com reported.
She was initially charged with child end🦹angerment, but the count was dropped, and in 2017 pleaded guilty to a theft charge and received two years of deferred adjudication, KSAT reported.
“It’s been a nightmare for my kids and I because I’ve✃ been portrayed in the media as having had a mountain lion in the house, tigers in the house, foxes, skunks all loose together𝔉, which has never happened,” Meyer told reporters.
“It’s just been a nightmare tryi⛦ng to prove my innocence,” she adꦰded.
But Meyer later became embroiled in further related accusat🅘ions.
In 2017, social media user Randall Spring said Meyer sold him a monkey for $6,500 – but it died two hours into thꦗe drive home and she advised him to throw the animal’s body in a dumpster, The Independent reported♏.
Another person posted on complaintsboard.com that he 𓄧bought a wolf from Meyer in June 2020, writing: “4 days later, the pup died. It took me hiring a private investigator to get to this page.”
Last year, Meyer diversified to other💮 sources of income, according to the news outlet, which reported that she announced on Instagram and Twitter that she launched 🦩an OnlyFans account.
Her attorney did not immediately return a call from The Independent for🍸 commen𒁏t.
