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Amber Heard Charged in Johnny Depp's Dog Scandal

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on July 17, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Australia seems to be taking Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's doggie indiscretion very personally.

In a yet another chapter of the dog drama, Amber Heard has been formally charged with smuggling and may soon be spending her days in an Australian prison.

Who Let The Dogs In?

This whole debacle started a couple months ago when Johnny Depp and Amber Heard flew their two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into Australia in Depp's private jet.

Australia is a rabies free country. So, the country has very strict quarantine rules protecting that status. To enter Australia, pets must have a microchip, an import permit, rabies vaccinations, blood tests, veterinary health certificates, treatments for parasites, and spend 10 days in quarantine. Depp and Heard's dogs bypassed all those requirements.

When Australia's Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce found out about the violation, he gave Depp and Heard an ultimatum. The dogs had to be out of the country within 48 hours, or they'd be euthanized!

Amber Heard Charged?

When all this drama was still fresh, there was plenty of speculation that Johnny Depp could be charged with a crime. An Australian Senate Committee actually took time out of their schedule to discuss whether or not Depp should be punished for smuggling the dogs in. There were also hints that Depp's airplane pilots may face up to two years in prison for flying the dogs in.

Who expected Amber Heard to be the first person charged with smuggling? On July 14, Heard officially received a summons issued by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. She was charged with two counts of illegal importation and one count of producing a false document.

The penalty for illegal importation is a maximum of 10 years in prison, and the penalty for producing false documents is 1 year in prison.

Heard has not indicated whether or not she'll show up in Australia for her upcoming hearing on September 7. However, she did mention that she and Depp are probably going to avoid returning to Australia.

If she doesn't show, will Australia make the effort to extradite her from the United States? We'll have to wait and see. 

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