BAD WEEK

Indiana Zoo Owner Who Appeared in ‘Tiger King’ Pleads Guilty to Roughing Up Official During Inspection

Tim Stark was sentenced to time served over a squabble in March 2020 at his zoo Wildlife in Need. He was accused of grabbing and threatening an Indiana deputy attorney general.

An Indiana zoo owner pleaded guilty to intimidation charges after he roughed up a deputy attorney general during an inspection of his now shuttered zoo.

Tim Stark, who appeared in the Netflix true-crime series Tiger King, was sentenced to time served over a confrontation in March 2020 at his zoo Wildlife in Need, which was dissolved in Nov. 2020. He was accused of grabbing and threatening the official.

Stark had hightailed it to New York before his arrest in Oct. 2020, going on an hour-long Facebook Live to declare he was fleeing the state because he “chose not to go to fucking jail as an innocent man.”

“All they’re trying to do is manipulate the judicial system,” he declared. “They have absolutely no fucking proof of anything I’ve done illegal.” He also claimed he didn’t grab the deputy attorney general, instead when he opened the door, “I sort of bumped him into it and then said, ‘Look motherfucker.’”

It’s a bad week for Stark, who was ordered to pay PETA more than $730,000 in legal fees on Tuesday after the organization sued him in 2017 for violating the Endangered Species Act. Stark was accused of declawing cubs so visitors could play with them and not get scratched.