AR-News: 'Tiger man' rejects plea offer

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'Tiger man' rejects plea offer

By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press  Writer

NEW YORK -- Antoine Yates, indicted on charges of keeping an  alligator
and a tiger in his Harlem apartment, said Wednesday that he  had
rejected the prosecution's offer to let him plead guilty to  a
misdemeanor and avoid jail.

"I couldn't plead guilty," Yates said as  he left court. "I want to
work with animals. If they feel I put the public in  harm's way, who
would ever trust me? How could I look at myself in the mirror  if I
plead guilty?"

Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Saland told the  court that "Mr.
Yates was initially offered a misdemeanor plea with  probation," but
decided to go to trial.

Yates is scheduled to begin  trial July 20 on charges of reckless
endangerment, endangering a child,  possession of a wild animal, and
failing to exercise care to protect the  public from wild animals and
reptiles.

Prosecutors say that at various  times, eight children lived in the
Yates family apartment while wild animals  were there.

State Supreme Court Justice Budd Goodman denied the  prosecution's
motion to consolidate Yates' trial with that of his mother,  Martha,
who was indicted on the same charges as her son. Goodman scheduled  her
trial for Aug. 9.

Both Yateses, who are free without bail, face up  to seven years in
prison if convicted on the reckless endangerment charge,  the top
count. The plea deal he was offered would have included a period  of
probation without any jail time.

Yates' tiger, Ming, is a  500-pound, 27-month-old orange and white
Siberian-Bengal mix that is being  kept at an animal sanctuary, Noah's
Lost Ark, in Ohio. Yates said his  alligator is at another animal
sanctuary in Indiana.

Yates, who was  dubbed the "Tiger Man" by the tabloids, said he has
tried to visit his former  pets but has not been allowed to see either.
He said he considers them his  friends and he misses them.

Yates said that after his legal problems are  resolved he intends to
start a zoo. He said he checked out a 250-acre parcel  of land in
upstate Sullivan County that he thinks would be suitable. He said  he
is working and saving to finance the project.

Yates apparently was  living alone on Oct. 3 when an anonymous caller
tipped officials that he was  keeping wild animals in the fifth-floor
apartment. A team of animal control  officers, police and Bronx Zoo
employees went to the apartment.

Yates  was arrested the next day in Philadelphia, where he had gone for
treatment of  a deep bite, inflicted by Ming, on his right leg.

The children, four who  were relatives and four foster children, lived
in the Yateses' apartment in  Harlem's Drew Hamilton Houses between
April 1, 2002, and Jan. 31, 2003, when  the animals allegedly were
there. Copyright © 2004, The Associated  Press


http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-bc-ny--tigerman0609jun09,0,329196
7.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines
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