Woman gets house arrest for tiger import

HERCULES, Calif., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Prosecutors said a Hercules, Calif., woman has been sentenced to house arrest after she pleaded guilty to illegally importing a stuffed tiger from Vietnam.

Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that Nicki Phung, 31, was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of probation after pleading guilty to a violation of the Lacey Act, which bans importation or exportation of wildlife barred from sale by U.S. law, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

Phung was also ordered to pay $5,000 to a nonprofit group aimed at the protection of big cats.

The woman's boyfriend, Steven Tieu, 38, received the same punishment when he was sentenced for the same crime in April. The couple had been accused of importing the mounted tiger from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in December 2007 without the proper permits.