A pair of baby giraffes that vanished last year from a notorious roadside zoo in Virginia were hidden from authorities with the help of a federal informant who allegedly double-crossed investigators by sharing sensitive intel about the investigation with one of the prime suspects, according to a search warrant application obtained by The Independent.

The 35-page affidavit reveals a slew of previously unreported details about the desperate search for the newborns, which went missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo in April 2025 and prompted actress and animal welfare advocate Alicia Silverstone to offer a $50,000 reward for their return.

In the affidavit, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes trying to track down the two giraffe calves while Patrick Robinson, a Tennessee animal handler turned government snitch, purportedly helped undermine the investigation he was supposed to be supporting.

The feds say Robinson hamstrung agents looking for the giraffes when he broke a written agreement not to divulge any information he gleaned about cases he was asked to collaborate on, allegedly telling a Natural Bridge Zoo insider about planned operations by law enforcement that involved the missing animals. He also shared private messages between him and his FWS contact, and participated in at least one conversation about moving the giraffes in secret to keep from being found.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Robinson confirmed his involvement in the case and told The Independent, “I was a confidential informant, so I don’t know how that goes with my agreement with them. I was in it from the ground up, but I don’t know what I can comment on and what I can’t comment on.”

Robinson’s work as a federal informant began in 2022, according to the affidavit, Robinson approached FWS agents in Texas with “information related to” the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a federal law enacted that same year restricting private ownership and the public display of lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars and cheetahs.

The following year, FWS Special Agent LaGesse was assigned to be the main point of contact for Robinson, who the affidavit says “claimed to be knowledgeable on individuals who were violating the Lacey Act and the Animal Welfare Act.”

The Lacey Act is a federal conservation law passed in 1900 that restricts the sale and transport of protected wildlife and plants.

“My initial discussions with Robinson focused on individuals who were illegally transferring primates throughout the United States,” La Gesse wrote in the affidavit.

On September 11, 2023, Robinson signed a “Cooperating Private Individual Agreement” with FWS, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal last February. In the agreement, Robinson swore to “always provide truthful and complete information,” and promised not to “divulge orally or in writing any information related to this investigation unless authorized to do so.”

Around this time, the Natural Bridge Zoo was coming under scrutiny amid a state-level investigation into filthy conditions and animal neglect. On December 6, 2023, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office seized nearly 100 animals from the zoo, including four adult giraffes, one male and three female. But, the affidavit says, the AG’s office didn’t have the specialized equipment necessary to transport the giraffes, so they remained at the zoo until proper arrangements could be made.

That October, after a period of legal wrangling, a final court order was entered allowing the county to retrieve the three giraffes, two of which were now pregnant.

Since the duo had entered their third trimester of pregnancy, the affidavit says the county’s experts and veterinarians recommended they not be moved until they birthed their calves. On April 8. 2025, a criminal investigator with the AG’s office, a Virginia state trooper, and a veterinarian paid an unannounced visit to Natural Bridge Zoo, and discovered that both giraffes had already given birth. However, the affidavit states, the two newborns were nowhere to be found.

Shortly after the baby giraffes disappeared, LaGesse met with Robinson in the parking lot of a Morrison, Tennessee, barbecue restaurant to check in and renew their cooperation agreement, according to the affidavit.

“I then proceeded to discuss various ongoing investigations with Robinson and potential next steps,” it continues. “Notably, I asked Robinson if he had any new information regarding the pair of giraffes missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo. Robinson inquired, ‘Have y’all still not found them?’ and then stated he did not have any new information.”

Robinson had already told LaGesse that he had been contacted by Sondra Scott, a paralegal, U.S. Army veteran, and “self-described advisor” to the Natural Bridge Zoo who runs an organization called Two By Two 4U, which touts its “track record of unparalleled success in navigating challenges posed by the USDA and animal rights activists.” and showed him limited screenshots of a text chain during which she asked if he had “a place for giraffes,” according to the affidavit.

However, it alleges, when LaGesse asked to take a look at the rest of the messages, Robinson’s tone seemed to shift.

“I asked Robinson if I could see his phone to review the conversation, which was a routine practice that Robinson had agreed to on previous occasions,” the affidavit states. “… Robinson agreed and opened his phone to find the conversation.”

Robinson typed the word “giraffe” in the search bar of his iMessage app, located the pertinent text messages, and handed the phone to LaGesse, according to the affidavit.

“As I was reviewing the phone, Robinson frequently interrupted me and asked, ‘What’s that a picture of? What are you looking at?’” the affidavit alleges. “After repeated inquiries, I asked Robinson what the problem was, and [he] stated, ‘There’s stuff on there I don’t want you to see.’”

Robinson told LaGesse that Scott “had sent him sexually explicit photographs,” the affidavit states. The agent responded that he “was not concerned with his personal life,” but that he was “just trying to get more context regarding the giraffes.”

LaGesse kept reading, until a series of screenshots that Robinson had sent to Scott caught his eye, according to the affidavit.

“The first image was a screenshot of a text message conversation with the contact listed as ‘USF&W,’” it says. “I then recognized the text as one I had previously sent Robinson.”

In the message string, Robinson asked LaGesse about funding for upcoming operations, and if he should make contact with Scott when he saw her at an upcoming exotic animal sale in Madison, Florida. LaGesse responded that his budget was limited at the moment, but told Robinson to “definitely talk to [Scott] next week so we can get a plan together,” the affidavit states.

“When I asked Robinson why he shared our conversation with Scott,” the affidavit says he “got upset, grabbed his phone from my hand, and exited the vehicle.”

Scott at the time was an “active target” of multiple wildlife trafficking cases, and, according to the affidavit, LaGesse feared he had exposed “detailed potential investigative steps specific to Scott and numerous other targets.”

Anything that Robinson may have divulged “severely undermines, obstructs, and impedes those investigations,” while helping Scott “avoid detection and prosecution” for Lacey Act violations, according to the affidavit.

Scott had already raised eyebrows during litigation involving Natural Bridge Zoo and accusations of animal mistreatment, encouraging supporters to “stalk” family members of the team that removed the animals on behalf of the state and “engag[ing] in name calling and made false allegations directed towards the court” on social media, the affidavit says.

On April 28, 2025, a judge granted LaGesse access to Robinson’s phone records and iCloud account, in a search for “evidence of wildlife trafficking, ongoing criminal investigations, impersonating a government official, and conspiracy,” according to the affidavit.

In a photo folder, LaGesse found screenshots of a “fabricated conversation” between Robinson and LaGesse’s boss at FWS, which the affidavit says made it appear as though Robinson, while posing as an FWS higher-up, had been bribing FWS brass. LaGesse also discovered a voicemail from Scott to Robinson, saying, “Hey, um… we need to go ahead and get a plan in action to move the baby G’s… so call me when you can.”

Months went by, and the baby giraffes remained missing. In November 2025, Natural Bridge Zoo Owner Gretchen Mogensen, 42, was jailed for 100 days after refusing to divulge the location of the giraffes or hand them over. (Scott at one point also faced a contempt charge, which was later dropped.)

As February 2026 rolled around, Mogensen and her parents – who co-owned the zoo – along with a veterinarian and an elephant trainer who worked there, were charged with a total of 55 misdemeanor counts of torturing, overdriving or cruelty to animals, and eight felony counts of forgery of a public record.

On June 15, after searching for more than a year, the Virginia AG’s Office announced the two baby giraffes had finally been located and rehomed at a safari park in Georgia. It remains unclear where they had been, or how they were finally found.

In a press release, the AG’s office said, “Due to the ongoing criminal investigation, no further details can be released at this time.”

Robinson has not been charged with a crime, according to a review of federal court records. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for prosecutors overseeing the investigation told The Independent, “It is a policy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to neither confirm, nor deny, nor discuss the status of any pending investigation.”

The Mogensens’ trial, the first of three, is set to begin in February 2027.