Woman sentenced to home confinement for importing mounted tiger
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 12, 2008


(08-11) 11:05 PDT -- A Hercules woman who pleaded guilty to illegally importing a mounted tiger from Vietnam has been sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of probation and must pay $5,000 to a nonprofit group that protects great cats, federal prosecutors announced today.

Nicki Phung, 31, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits the importation or exportation of wildlife sold in violation of U.S. law. Tigers are considered an endangered species.

Phung was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen and received the same punishment as her boyfriend, 38-year-old Steven Tieu, who was sentenced in April. The couple was accused of importing the stuffed tiger from Ho Chi Minh City in December without proper permits or declarations.

E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com