'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic tests positive for coronavirus in jail, moved to prison medical center
Netflix's documentary 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic has contracted coronavirus while in prison.
The 57-year-old reality star and big cat owner is serving a 22-year-long sentence at a federal prison in Texas. He had been charged with 17 charges of animal abuse and two counts of murder for hire. Joe's fourth husband Dillon Passage, 24, recently shared that he was worried that Joe would catch the virus as it was prevalent in prison.
Joe had been self-isolating but has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, as per a report from the prison. New York Post reports that he had tested positive for coronavirus and was transferred to the prison medical center. Records show that as of April 2, Joe is at the Federal Bureau of Prisons-operated Federal Medical Center Forth Worth in Texas.
Joe had made headlines when his documentary released on Netflix. He had also inspired several memes given his quirky dressing sense and also bizarre lifestyle surrounded by tigers, guns, and many husbands at a time.
While speaking to Andy Cohen on his radio show, Dillon shared, "We speak like three to five times every day, but since he’s been moved to this new facility, they are putting him COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases."
"I’ve yet to speak to him since he moved," he added. He then confirmed that Joe 'is in his own COVID-19 quarantine'. "From what I know, yes. From what he told me," he shared. He also spoke about his relationship with Joe and said, "I do love Joe. He’s been with my through my darkest times, and I’m not going to just dip out and abandon him when he needs me most."
“He is no longer here at this facility,” a Grady County jail staffer has told the Post.
Joe was sentenced to prison in 2019 after he paid a hitman to kill his nemesis Carole Baskin who is an animal rights activist. We had previously reported that Netflix's documentary 'Tiger King' looks at the real-life story of Joe Exotic.
The man, Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, known as 'Joe Exotic' is an Oklahoma zoo owner serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot involving Carole Baskin. Baskin's husband Jack Donald 'Don' Lewis went missing in 1997 and was declared dead though his body was ever found.
This led to Baskin's rival Joe claiming that Lewis had been killed by his wife. Baskin has always maintained that she is innocent and had no involvement in her husband's disappearance.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister is using the hype surrounding the documentary to find new leads in the cold case of Lewis. He shared that his office is receiving around six tips every day. "We are already receiving new tips and we hope to close this cold case soon with the help of the public," he told CNN.
"Since the documentary came out we've been receiving about six tips a day related to this case. We are looking into each one thoroughly," he added. According to Chronister, the series is "interesting" though it did not present any information that investigators didn't already know. "They certainly spun it a certain way for entertainment purposes," he shared.