Johnny Depp Amber Heard
Actor Johnny Depp and wife Amber Heard arrive at the Southport Magistrates Court on Australia's Gold Coast, April 18, 2016. Hollywood actor Johnny Depp's wife, actress Amber Heard, appeared in a Queensland court Monday charged with illegally smuggling the couple's Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, into the country on a private jet while Depp was shooting a Pirates of the Caribbean movie last year. Reuters/Dave Hunt

Amber Heard, wife of “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp, pleaded guilty on Monday to producing false immigration documents to officials. She is facing trial for smuggling their two Yorkshire terriers, Boo and Pistol, into Australia last year when Depp was filming the fifth movie in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

Charges for smuggling the dogs and producing false documents are serious enough to send the actress to prison. The smuggling charge could send Heard to prison for up to 10 years, and the false document charge carries a maximum penalty of a fine of more than $10,000 and one year in jail.

According to 9News.com.au, the two charges of illegal importation have been dropped. The case has been adjourned until 11 a.m. while evidence is considered.

The dog smuggling controversy started last year when then-Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce (now deputy prime minister of Australia) lashed out at Heard and threatened to euthanise the dogs lest they spread diseases. He alleged that the celebrity couple smuggled the dogs in a private jet to Queensland in May without undergoing quarantine and through falsifying documents. Heard took the dogs back to the US shortly afterward.

“If we start letting movie stars – even though they’ve been the sexiest man alive twice – to come into our nation (with pets), then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody? It’s time that Pistol and Boo b******* off back to the United States,” Joyce had said.

Australian officials came to know about the Yorkshire terriers after they visited a Gold Coast dog grooming salon. Depp was one of the 12 witnesses called by Commonwealth prosecutors to give evidence at the Southport Magistrates Court on Queensland State’s Gold Coast.

Depp and Heard arrived in Gold Coast in a Gulfstream V private jet. They were swarmed by reporters the moment they arrived in court. When asked how the couple and their terriers were doing, Depp replied with a “Fine, thank you.”

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