Second Morris Mink Farm Liberator Avoids Prison Time

The second man involved in the liberation of a Morris mink farm was sentenced to six months of home confinement and six months in a work release center.

Tyler Lang, 27, was one of two men who released more than 2,000 minks from a farm. Lang and fellow animal rights activist Kevin Johnson, 28, reportedly broke into a Morris mink farm to release the animals. After doing so, prosecutors said they wrote the words “Liberation is Love” on a barn. In addition, they poured a caustic substance on two farm vehicles, damaging the paint.

Several minks that were released later died after being hit by traffic and more were killed in the wild. More than 550 of them perished.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said at Lang’s sentencing that his actions caused a “substantial loss to the victim. It wiped out their business and life savings,” according to the Tribune.

Lang was also ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution. A three-month prison term was handed down, but Lang already served that time following his arrest, according to the Tribune.

The farm’s owner, Robert Rodeghero, was able to get back around 1,200 minks, but couldn’t sell them because the cards on their cages that specified the breed had been tampered with, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Between Aug. 5 and Aug. 15, 2013, Johnson and Lang traveled to Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin for the purpose of damaging and interfering with the operations of animal enterprises, including mink and fox farms, according to federal prosecutors

On Aug. 14, 2013, they allegedly damaged real and personal property — including animals and records — and interfered with the operations of the mink farm, causing more than $10,000 in damages, according to the indictment.

Johnson was sentenced last month to three years in prison. However, he could be out in a matter of months due to credit for time already served.