PVT FILE PHOTO Karl Mitchell, who had a colorful past in Pahrump, has recently been paroled to Pahrump. Advertisement

Karl Mitchell, another prominent name in Nye County crime several years ago, is on parole in Pahrump.

It's the second recent parole of a suspect in a sensational case in Pahrump Valley dating back to the period of 2001-2002.

Former Nye County Public Administrator Robert "Red" Dyer, who was accused of theft from the estates of the deceased, was also released on parole recently. He's living in Las Vegas.

Mitchell became a local celebrity when he ran Big Cat Encounters, which allowed people to pose with his tigers and leopards on his Pahrump property.

Mitchell was awarded a contract to run the animal control department when Nye County wanted to privatize the service in 2000, during a heated commission meeting featuring arguments among different animal welfare groups. Local advocates didn't want the contract given to Dewey Animal Control in Las Vegas.

But in May 2001, Mitchell's $250,000 annual contract was terminated after he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance without a license, the sodium pentobarbital used to euthanise animals; the alleged theft of a cockatoo; the shooting of a German shepherd; theft of corral paneling from the Spring Mountain Ostrich Ranch; the theft of two silky terriers; and two misdemeanor counts of open and gross lewdness.

Court testimony revealed allegations of animal cruelty, bags containing animals still moving as they were dumped at the county landfill, and injecting animals in the chest cavity causing a longer death.

In August 2001, visiting North Las Vegas Senior Judge James Kelly dismissed five of the nine counts, allowing a felony theft charge, administering the drugs without a license and the two misdemeanor counts to proceed to trial.

In June, 2002, more charges were filed in Pahrump Justice Court; two counts of theft for cashing three county checks totaling $42,500 six weeks after his contract expired, and the theft of a 1999 GMC Suburban belonging to Liz Glennon, wife of attorney Bob Glennen from January to May, 2002.

Mitchell eventually received a sentence of 28 to 70 months on one count of theft of the Suburban. He entered High Desert State Prison July 27, 2004 according to Nevada Department of Corrections records. In November 2004, he was transferred to the Southern Desert Correctional Center. Both penal institutions are in Indian Springs.

Mitchell was paroled from Southern Desert Correctional Center Sept. 28. His parole expires Aug. 21.

In March 2005, workers for the Animal Sanctuary of the United States arrived to haul off six tigers and two leopards from Mitchell's property and relocate them to the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio. The woman who maintained the animals after Mitchell's imprisonment, Sandy Allman, had contacted the organization for assistance, the Pahrump Valley Times reported.

The tip of one of Allman's fingers was bitten off while showing off one the leopards in February 2005. At the time of the move, animal rescue workers said the exotic animals hadn't seen a veterinarian in over a year and were covered in feces and urine burns.

In 2001 the U.S. Department of Agriculture revoked Mitchell's license to own the exotic animals after it was determined he didn't provide proper, minimal care.