Crime & Arrests

Joe Exotic uttered the famous line, "I am never gonna financially recover from this," on 'Tiger King' ... which is probably how the owner of one of Joe's flamboyant shirts feels after he got hoodwinked on eBay.

It was almost official -- the pink sequin button-up top Joe wore on episode 2 of the Netflix docuseries closed on the auction site Friday at $10,400 after receiving 43 bids from 21 bidders. The opening bid was $650 on April 12, but things really escalated in the final 2 days.

That probably should have been a red flag, as the shirt's seller, Vincent Baran, tells TMZ ... the winner of the auction claims he was hacked and not bidding himself, and will not be paying for the shirt.

Baran's still hoping to turn a big profit on the item, though ... he's now re-listed the piece of Exotic memorabilia at a buy-now price of $10,300 -- or best offer -- until May 17.

We broke the story ...  Vince told us he came across the Exotic artifact when he noticed Joe's old stomping grounds, The Greater Wynnewood (G.W.) Zoo, was selling several of his shirts on Facebook.

Baran says he managed to buy the pink shirt from Joe's ex-business partner -- Jeff Lowe, who now runs the zoo -- for just $100, and he was initially hoping to get $650 or more for it ... based on what some other Joe Exotic wardrobe items have sold for online.

So, cashing out at above $10k would have been an unprecedented new high -- that's enough to buy a few tigers cubs, after all -- and as the saying goes ... if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Good luck, Vince.

Before Joe Exotic was known to the world as the Tiger King, he desperately tried his hand at being a "Wolf King" ... but he got dethroned after a very short reign.

TMZ's learned Joe Exotic got his hands on 28 gray wolves back in early 2018 after a so-called "petting zoo" in Minneapolis was forced to give up the animals following an unfavorable ruling at trial over a lawsuit alleging it violated the federal Endangered Species Act.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund was behind that lawsuit ... and it didn't take long before the ALDF had Joe in its crosshairs. Christopher Berry, the ALDF attorney behind the lawsuit, tells TMZ ... he fired off a legal letter to Joe accusing him of also violating that law.

The letter accuses Joe of transporting the wolves from Minnesota to Oklahoma, which is one of the ESA violations because it's against federal law to transport protected animals across state lines without a permit.

The lawyer also accused Joe of trying to sell protected animals ... Berry pointed out the commercial sale of a protected animal violates federal law. Berry also alleged Joe tried to sell at least 4 wolf pups on social media.

And, get this ... Berry offered to resolve the issue amicably, but Joe wasn't having it. Berry tells us a few days after Joe received the letter, Joe was pissed off to the point he called Berry and chewed him out in a profanity-laced rant ... denying he broke any laws.

We're told, Joe ultimately admitted trying to get a handle on wolves proved way more challenging than he anticipated. One example ... the wolves often clawed out of their enclosures and ran amok at Joe's G.W. Exotic Animal Park.

Berry says Joe ultimately turned the wolves over to Lockwood Animal Rescue Center ... an animal protection org. in Ventura, CA. After complying with Berry's letter, we're told the ALDF took no further legal action against Joe.

As for how Joe's facility got selected to receive the wolves ... we're told the Minnesota petting zoo was desperate to find the wolves new homes, but irresponsibly sent 28 of the as many as 60 wolves to Joe, who clearly was not equipped to care for them.

But, just when ya think there's a happy ending ... think again. Berry says only 25 of the 28 wolves at Joe's facility were transferred to Lockwood. He says one of the wolves died from an infection at Joe's park. As for the two remaining wolves ... they went MIA and no one ever figured out what happened to them.

Then again, Joe Exotic's been accused of heinous acts against animals.

Joe Exotic is in a desperate situation ... he's isolated in the bowels of a federal prison, unable to fight the government in his $89 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit, and he's begging the judge for access to a computer and the law library.

The "Tiger King" star just filed a handwritten legal doc, telling the judge he's running out of time to respond to the government's legal docs in the civil lawsuit. Joe says he can't respond without the proper tools, so he wants another 30 days.

Joe says he's been isolated at the Federal Medical Center ... he can't phone anyone, email them ... he has no access to the outside world.

This syncs up with our TMZ Investigation, which aired on Fox last Monday. We were told he was in isolation because inmates from the previous facility where Joe was housed tested positive for the virus. The prison disputes it, but for some reason, he's still in quarantine. His people say Joe is virus-free.

Joe is also appealing his conviction. He has some interesting arguments ... among them, "did the prosecutor throw in animal abuse charges in the murder-for-hire trial just to unfairly prejudice the jury so he'd get convicted?" And, if you saw the special, it's interesting that "hitman" and star prosecution witness Allen Glover revealed a bias by saying he delivered payback to Joe and wished he could have done more to hurt him.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is embracing his role as a rat ... or so it seems based on what he told Tory Lanez.

So, here's what went down ... Tory was hosting his Quarantine Radio Monday night on Instagram Live when, out of nowhere, you see Tekashi's IG handle pop up in the group chat. Tekashi typed, "lemme play this new s**t or ima snitch on u. you not even from America u from Canada."

Ya gotta watch Tory's reaction. It's pretty epic. Unclear if Tekashi actually has some new music he wants to show the masses, but now that he's on house arrest it's not so far fetched to think he's got something up his sleeve.

As for snitching on Tory ... it's unclear what about. Tory, btw, just last week had his Instagram Live session privileges restored by IG, which banned Tory from going Live after some nudity appeared in one of his sessions.

But no beef seems to be brewing between the rappers. Tekashi and Tory have some history ... good history. Tekashi's 2018 track "Kika" on the "Dummy Boy" album features Tory.

Again ... Tekashi just seems to be embracing the snitch role.

Ex-"Deadliest Catch" star Jerod Sechrist has a trifecta -- 3 arrests in 6 months ... this time for theft, and cops say he admits he's doing it to fuel his addiction.

Sechrist was arrested this week at a Tampa residence for 2 outstanding felony warrants for grand theft. The first alleged heist was a bunch of silver, collectible coins and a Rolex. According to cops, he allegedly swiped them from an ex-roommate and then sold them at a pawn shop.

The second warrant was for allegedly walking out of a Home Depot last month with a bucket filled with more than $800 in tools. Cops say he didn't pay, and when a security guard stopped him outside ... Sechrist dropped the bucket and bolted.

The former deckhand only appeared on 3 episodes in 2016 ... but he made a lasting impression with fans because he continually pissed off his crew members.

When cops hauled him in this week, they say he told them he was hooked on heroin and was only stealing to get money for drugs. He asked if he could get treatment for his addiction.

As we reported, Sechrist was arrested last October for heroin possession, and then again in November for stealing from an Ikea.

Joe Exotic is officially on the White House's radar now -- thanks to a reporter asking President Trump if he plans to pardon the 'Tiger King' star and convicted felon.

The bizarre exchange went down Wednesday during, of all things, the coronavirus taskforce briefing. The reporter asked Trump if he's heard of the popular Netflix series, and, if so, might he consider commuting Joe's 22-year prison sentence.

The reporter told the Prez ... his son, Don Jr., joked during a radio interview he'd lobby POTUS to pardon Joe Exotic for the memes "and just for frankly watching the media reaction to this thing."

It's actually pretty hilarious ... Trump asked which son made that comment before answering in signature fashion, saying, "I know nothing about it." That didn't stop him from also saying he'd look into it. For good measure ... he also asked CNN's Jim Acosta -- a reporter Trump often feuds with -- if he thought a pardon was a good idea.

Ronaldinho -- the soccer superstar accused of using a fake passport to enter Paraguay -- is finally out of jail ... but he ain't exactly home free.

The 40-year-old Brazilian was moved to house arrest Tuesday -- after spending the last month locked up in Paraguay for allegedly using a really bad fake passport.

As we previously reported, Dinho and his brother traveled to Paraguay back in March to promote a new book -- but officials say they entered the country illegally. Big problem.

And, why fake passports? The former FIFA World Cup All-Star reportedly had his Brazilian and Spanish passports confiscated in July 2019 over unpaid taxes.

Authorities raided the hotel where Ronaldinho and his bro were staying, seized the passports and threw 'em both in jail ... where they've been ever since, until Tuesday.

Bond was set at $1.6 MILLION ($800,000 each) -- which they can easily afford, considering the FORTUNES they made in contract and endorsement money over the years.

Don't feel too bad for Ronaldhino, he's been able to stay active in jail ... dominating in rec yard soccer games and reportedly winng a trophy pig for his performances!

Ronaldinho and his brother are expected to remain under the house arrest while an investigation into their alleged crimes carries on.

UFC star Anthony Smith -- who's beaten some of the best fighters on the planet -- says he fought off a man who broke into his Nebraska home this weekend ... and, "it was one of the toughest fights I've had in my whole life."

The story is insane ... around 4 AM on Sunday, Smith's wife heard a man in the house "screaming at the top of his lungs."

31-year-old Smith -- who lives in the home with his wife, 3 young daughters (8, 5 and 2)  and mother-in-law -- moved everyone to a room and decided to confront the intruder.

"I'm expecting that I'm gonna hear a gunshot or he's gonna stab me," Smith told ESPN's Ariel Helwani. ... "I figure I've got about two minutes before whatever he's got takes me out."

So, Smith charged hard and tried to subdue the man in his computer room -- but to Anthony's surprise, the man fought back ... HARD.

"No normal human is able to fight like that ... I'm by no means the baddest dude on the planet. But, he's a regular Joe and I had a hard time dealing with him."

"And he took everything that I gave him -- every punch, every knee, every elbow. He took every single one of them and kept fighting me."

During the scrap, Smith says his mother-in-law brought him a kitchen knife to use on the intruder -- but it didn't completely stop the guy.

Eventually, cops arrived and helped to subdue the intruder, identified as Luke Haberman -- who was already bloodied, beaten and cut up.

The craziest part of the story ... Smith says once Haberman was in custody, he apologized -- saying, "Hey man, I'm sorry."

What?!

"I'm not lying when I said it was one of the toughest fights I've had in my whole life," Smith said ... "I went into that fight ready to die."

As for Haberman, he was hospitalized and hit with a citation which requires him to appear in court in the near future.

Smith says the guy had been wreaking havoc in his neighborhood earlier in the night -- and broke into his home through an open garage door.