A notorious exotic animal dealer who sold a jaguar cub in Riverside was sentenced to six months’ probation Monday, federal prosecutors said.
Trisha Denise Meyer, 43, of Houston was known for selling exotic animals from her Texas home, as well as posing naked with animals on OnlyFans.
She sold the weeks-old jaguar cub, which she called Amador, to a Murrieta man who then sold him again before the cub was dumped at a San Diego wild animal sanctuary. The cub was malnourished and covered in feces with patches of fur missing.
Meyer was charged in 2022 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 endangered species” after her initial sale of the animal for $26,000 and transporting the cub from Texas to California in 2021, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California.
Owning a jaguar in Texas is legal, but it’s not legal to sell an endangered species out of state. Owning a jaguar in California is illegal.
The cub has grown into an adult, now renamed Eddie. He lives at the Lions Tigers & Bears Sanctuary in a remote part of San Diego County.
The maximum sentence for the four charges against Meyer was eight years in federal prison and a $700,000 fine.
But in June 2023, Meyer pleaded guilty to one count of the interstate sale of an endangered species, according to Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office. And on Monday, U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal sentenced her to six months of probation and ordered her to pay $30,000 in restitution.
Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
