GOLD COAST, Australia (Reuters) – The wife of Hollywood star Johnny Depp pleaded guilty on Monday (April 18) to falsifying travel documents to sneak the couple’s two pet dogs into Australia.
Depp and Heard arrived, surrounded by media at a packed courthouse near the spot where Depp was shooting a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel when the scandal erupted last year.
Heard, 29, faced charges of illegally importing animals after authorities accused the couple of bringing their pet Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into the country without going through proper quarantine procedures.
But on Monday, the court heard that the Queensland Director of Prosecutions agreed to drop those charges when Heard pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of falsifying quarantine documents.
For Depp and Heard, the result made for a reassuringly un-Hollywood ending to their brush with Australia’s notoriously tough quarantine laws. The original charges against Heard carried a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of A$100,000 ($77,000).
Perhaps even more or a relief, the result calls a wrap on an unusual diplomatic tangle between the A-list couple and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, who in his capacity as farm minister threatened to kill the dogs if Depp and Heard did not remove them.
Pistol and Boo were flown back to the United States from Australia on May 15, 2015.
Heard was due to be sentenced later on Monday.
