'Tiger King' star moved to North Carolina medical prison to receive cancer treatment
Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2013, file photo, the late Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, answers a question during an interview at the zoo he runs in Wynnewood, Okla. The Oklahoma zoo, featured in Netflix's "Tiger King" documentary, has closed after federal authorities investigated it for alleged maltreatment of animals and suspended its license. The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park closed to the public after the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, suspended the exhibitor license for current-owner Jeff Lowe for 21 days.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
"Tiger King" star Joe Exotic has been moved to a North Carolina medical facility to receive cancer treatment.
Joseph Maldonado-Passage's lawyer told The Oklahoman and The Associated Press that the former Oklahoma zookeeper was moved to the Butner, North Carolina, medical center last week.
According to the AP, the Netflix star has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Maldonado-Passage has been serving a 22-year prison sentence in Ft. Worth after being sentenced in April 2019 for animal cruelty and trying to hire someone to murder Carole Baskin, who's a big-cat rights activist.
But in July, a federal appeals court ruled that he should get a shorter prison sentence.
When he was initially sentenced, a judge convicted Maldonado-Passage's two murder-for-hire counts separately, but the court grouped those two counts.