Florida man slapped with felony & several other charges after trapping alligator

Cover photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo by joiseyshowaa | Flickr

A weekly Division of Law Enforcement report issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on July 14, 2023 details a case of a Florida Man in Nassau County caging an alligator in the front yard of his house — resulting in the issuance of several charges.
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According to the release, Officer Specialist Stuhr and Investigator Mandrick responded to information from the Nassau County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit regarding the gator; when visiting the house, the deputies identified a dog kennel with an alligator inside, documenting class 2 wildlife caging violations, including no permits possessed by the subject.

The officer and investigator took possession of the alligator, relocating it to a licensed facility.

The subject was charged with one felony and seven misdemeanor charges including the following:

• illegal capture and possession of an American alligator
• no alligator trapping agents license
• taking of an American alligator outside of the legal harvesting periods
• violation of fencing requirements for a class 2 wildlife
• possession of any native or non-native wildlife in captivity without a permit from the FWC
• unsanitary conditions for wildlife in captivity
• violation of sanitary requirements for captive wildlife in reference to unclean pools, tanks, water areas, and water containers provided for swimming, drinking, or wading and
• no person shall maintain captive wildlife in any unsafe or unsanitary condition or in a manner that results in threats to public safety or the maltreatment and neglect of such wildlife

The above case wasn't the only time FWC officers responded to a call regarding an alligator, though. In Santa Rosa County, Officers Lugg, Burkhead, and Wilkinson received information from a deputy in Alabama regarding a traffic stop he'd conducted recently.

The stop by the Alabaman deputy revealed a fresh, untagged alligator hide in a garbage bag located inside the subject's vehicle, the release states. The subject told the deputy he was on his way to Florida, and that the alligator was killed in Florida.

Officers gathered further information from the deputy, interviewing the subject about the dead gator. The subject admitted to having possession of the untagged gator hide. Officer Lugg then seized the hide and cited the subject with several violations related to the untagged hide.

You can read the Division of Law Enforcement's Weekly Report from June 30 through July 6, 2023 in its entirety below:
Northwest Region
Bay County

• Investigator Tony Lee, and Officers Christian Jarrell and Travis Basford were on patrol on Grand Lagoon when they stopped a vessel returning from an offshore fishing trip and conducted a saltwater resource inspection. The captain was in possession of over the bag limit of red snapper and was cited for the violation.
• Investigator Tony Lee, and Officers Christian Jarrell and Travis Basford were on patrol on Grand Lagoon when they conducted a stop on a vessel to conduct a boating safety inspection. The operator was under 21 years of age and was displaying signs of impairment. The operator was found to be in violation of the .02 violation law and was cited accordingly. The vessel was towed to a local marina where a sober driver could take control of the vessel.
• Officers Christian Jarrell, Nicole Basford, and Travis Basford were on patrol in Bay County when they responded to call regarding a hit-and-run boating accident in Grand Lagoon. The officers arrived on scene and contacted the vessels involved in the accident. The operator of the striking vessel was displaying signs of impairment. After a brief boating accident investigation, a boating under the influence investigation was conducted on the operator of the striking vessel.  Standardized field sobriety tasks were conducted, and the operator was determined to be boating under the influence. The operator was placed under arrest and transported to the Bay County Jail.

Escambia County

• Officers Allgood and Hahr worked offshore fishing activity and documented three vessels in violation of reef fish rules. One subject was cited for possession of an undersized red snapper and two other captains were cited for possession of undersized greater amberjack and greater amberjack out of season.
• Officers Lugg and Burkhead were on vessel patrol near Bayou Grande when they noticed a vessel with fishing gear returning to a nearby boat landing. The officers conducted a resource inspection on the vessel and located an undersized amberjack in a cooler on board the vessel. The operator admitted to keeping the undersize greater amberjack. Officer Burkhead cited the operator for possession of undersize greater amberjack.
• Officers Lugg and Burkhead were on vessel patrol in Pensacola Bay when a pontoon boat passed them under Bob Sikes Bridge at a high rate of speed with several people on board. As the subject passed the officers, he took both hands off the steering wheel while the vessel was still underway. The officers stopped the vessel for careless operation and located an empty beer can under the operator’s feet. When asked, the operator, who was under the age of 21, admitted to drinking alcohol. Officer Burkhead conducted field sobriety tasks on the operator, who performed poorly on the tasks and showed several signs of impairment. The officers placed the subject under arrest for operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol. The subject agreed to provide a breath sample in which the results were over the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration. The subject was transported and booked into the Escambia County jail.
• Officers Ramos and Lugg were on vessel patrol near Pensacola Beach during the annual Operation Dry Water event and discovered a vessel with an operator who showed various signs of impairment. Officer Ramos conducted standardized field sobriety tasks and determined the operator was impaired. The vessel operator was arrested for boating under the influence and asked to provide a sample of his breath as required by law. The operator refused to submit a breath sample. He was issued a civil penalty for the refusal and booked into the county jail for BUI.
• While on vessel patrol in Bayou Texar, Officers Lugg and Ramos conducted a marine fisheries inspection on a catamaran with fishing equipment that was pulling into a private wet slip. During the inspection, Officer Lugg located multiple species of regulated and unregulated species on the deck of the vessel that were filleted and not in whole condition. Multiple fillets of vermillion snapper appeared to have been under the legal limit of 10” based on the fillet length. The individual was cited for possession of fish not in whole condition.

Gulf County

• Senior Officers Matt and Hal Webb were checking vessels returning from fishing in St. Joe Bay. They stopped a vessel returning from the Gulf of Mexico and an inspection revealed the captain was in possession of two gray triggerfish, one of which was undersized. The captain was cited for possession out of season and warned for undersized.

Santa Rosa County

• Officer Bower was on patrol and observed a vessel in wrecked and junked condition. The vessel is hard aground and unable to be moved under its own power. It will need mechanical assistance to be removed from the shoreline. The owner was located was issued the derelict vessel notification of rights packet and notice to appear citations for storing a derelict vessel upon waters of the state and issued paperwork for an expired registration over 6 months.
• Officers Burkhead and Lugg were on vessel patrol when they noticed several untagged bush hook lines in the water that appeared to have been recently placed there. The officers pulled into a nearby boat launch and located a man about to launch his vessel. The officers asked if he had been running lines and he responded he had put some out the night before. The officers located line in the boat that matched the bush hook lines in the water. The subject admitted to placing the untagged bush hooks on the river. Officer Lugg wrote the subject a notice to appear misdemeanor for using untagged bush hooks.
• Officers Lugg, Burkhead, and Wilkinson received information from a deputy in Alabama regarding a traffic stop he conducted recently. The stop revealed a fresh, untagged alligator hide in a garbage bag located inside the subject’s vehicle. The subject told the deputy he was on his way to Florida and that the alligator was killed in Florida. The officers gathered information from the deputy and further interviewed the subject about the alligator. The subject admitted to having possession of the untagged alligator hide. Officer Lugg seized the hide and cited the subject with several violations related to the untagged hide.

Gulf County

• Lieutenant Guy and Officers Matt Webb, Hal Webb and Bryce Gerber responded to a search and rescue on St. Joe Bay the night of July 4. A small jon boat with a male and female passenger was overdue. The vessel was located a few hours later stranded due to low tide. The vessel was escorted in to awaiting family members.

North Central Region
Alachua County

• Officer Reith responded to a call concerning a subject shooting a deer on private property. The complainant stated he witnessed a subject stop near a group of deer, open the trunk, retrieve a rifle, and shoot at the deer. The subject then took off down the property easement toward where he had shot at the deer. Officer Reith and Officer Stanley arrived on scene and found a vehicle and driver matching the provided description. The officers interviewed the subject who admitted to shooting at the deer. The subject’s boot tread and the vehicle’s tire sign matched what the officers had found at the location where the shots occurred. The passenger in the vehicle was then found to have an active warrant out of Suwannee County and was arrested and booked into the Alachua County jail. The subject who shot at the deer will be charged with attempting to take deer during the closed season.

Citrus County

• Officer Jovanov was on vessel patrol near Homosassa when he observed a vessel with fishing equipment approaching. Officer Jovanov conducted a vessel stop for a resource inspection and saw the vessel operator showed signs of impairment. After standardized field sobriety tasks, Officer Jovanov placed the operator under arrest for boating under the influence. Officer Jovanov also discovered a large amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The operator was taken to jail and charged with boating under the influence, felony possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
• Officer Specialist Sarmiento was on vessel patrol near Crystal River and during a single weekend, he found several subjects who had harvested out-of-season triggerfish, out-of-season gag grouper, undersized sheepshead, and undersized cobia. The subjects responsible for the unlawful harvests were charged for the violations.

Duval County

• Officer Hausler responded to a tip about an unlicensed vendor selling shrimp and other saltwater products from their house. Officer Hausler conducted an inspection at the location and discovered several saltwater product violations. At the conclusion of the inspection, the vendor was issued a citation for licensing violations and issued two warnings for other violations. Additionally, Officer Hausler educated the vendor on the legal process of commercial harvest and the sale of saltwater products.

Hamilton County

• Officer Nichols was assisting the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office with locating a wanted subject. Officer Nichols observed the subject crawl from a wooded area into a field and contacted the subject before he had a chance to flee. The subject was taken into custody and turned over to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

Nassau County

• Officer Specialist Stuhr and Investigator Mandrick responded to information from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit regarding an alligator in a cage in the front yard of a house. Officer Specialist Stuhr and Investigator Mandrick visited the house and identified a dog kennel with an alligator inside and documented class 2 wildlife caging violations, including no permits possessed by the subject. Officer Specialist Stuhr and Investigator Mandrick took possession of the alligator and relocated it to a licensed facility. The subject was charged with one felony and seven misdemeanor charges of illegally capturing/possessing an American alligator, no alligator trapping agents license, taking of an American alligator outside of the legal harvesting periods, violation of fencing requirements for a class 2 wildlife, possession of any native or non-native wildlife in captivity without a permit from the FWC, unsanitary conditions for wildlife in captivity, violation of sanitary requirements for captive wildlife in reference to unclean pools, tanks, water areas and water containers provided for swimming, drinking or wading, and no person shall maintain captive wildlife in any unsafe or unsanitary condition or in a manner that results in threats to public safety or the maltreatment or neglect of such wildlife.

Taylor County

• Officer Edwards was on water patrol in the Steinhatchee River when she stopped a vessel for pulling kids on a tube inside the marked channel and nearly colliding with a channel marker. During the vessel stop, Edwards located a cooler full of scallops. After measuring the scallops, the operator was issued a citation for over the daily bag limit of scallops and a citation for careless operation.

Union County

• Officer Fanelli was patrolling local hunting clubs when he found a subject running hounds. The subject stated he was getting the puppies used to riding in a vehicle. Officer Fanelli tracked where the subject had recently been and found evidence the subject placed the puppies on fresh deer tracks. Officer Fanelli found the subject later and presented him with the evidence. The subject admitted to training his puppies to run deer during the closed season. Charges will be filed with the Union County State Attorney’s Office.

Hamilton County

• Senior Officers Nichols and Mobley participated in a public outreach event held at the Jasper Public Library.  They conducted a presentation for a summer learning program to a group of youth as well as adults.  They educated the group on the duties and responsibilities of An FWC law enforcement officer, fish and wildlife regulations and boating safety.

Northeast Region
Volusia County

• Officer Vanas was conducting resource inspections on recreational shoreline saltwater anglers and discovered one of the subjects had used an illegal method to harvest an undersized snook during the snook closed season. The subject was charged appropriately. 
• Officer Specialist Thornton and Officer Robinson were on vessel patrol on the St. Johns River when they observed a vessel operating without registration numbers. Officer Thornton conducted a vessel stop to address the violation and observed multiple indicators of impairment while in contact with the operator. Officer Thornton conducted standardized field sobriety tasks on the operator and observed sufficient indicators that the operator’s normal faculties were impaired. The operator was placed under arrest and refused to submit to a breath test.  

Putnam County

• Senior Officer Campbell and Officer Norris received information regarding the use of deer dogs to pursue deer on private property. Upon arrival, the hunting dogs and a recently killed deer were observed on the property. After a brief investigation, the dogs’ owner was located and the owner met with the officers to retrieve the hunting dogs. Based on evidence collected at the scene, the subject was cited for several violations related to the pursuit and taking of deer during the closed season.

Volusia County

• Senior Officer Campbell and Officer Dodd were on patrol when they responded to information about a subject using a cast net to catch and keep undersized snook. The officers located the subject and conducted a saltwater fisheries inspection. During the inspection, they found undersized snook, undersized redfish, undersized sheepshead, and undersized mangrove snapper. All fish were harvested by a cast net. The subject received citations for the violations. 

Sumter County

• Officer Specialist Teal received a call about individuals lost and stuck in Richloam Wildlife Management area. Little information was available due to the lack of signal in the area other than the subjects entered from a main road and got stuck. Officer Teal located fresh tire sign heading down a narrow road off the south grade. The road became too wet and muddy for a patrol vehicle to go any farther, so he got out on foot and continued to track. After about two miles the officer located the individuals, who had been stuck and lost for over six hours. Officer Teal and the individuals made their way back out to the main road on foot before dark and were able to call for assistance to retrieve the vehicle. 

Southwest Region
Lee County

• Captive Wildlife Investigator Ruggiero worked with Officers Johnson, Midolo, and Hurst in response to an individual who had four gopher tortoises in a small pen behind his residence. The tortoises were seized and turned over to wildlife rehabilitation clinic. The subject was charged for possession of the tortoises. 
• Investigator Ruggiero and Officer Specialist Bell encountered a vessel returning from offshore fishing. A fisheries inspection located two undersized mangrove snapper among other fish. Though the individuals admitted to having access to fishing regulations online, they decided to keep the fish even though they did not know the type of fish or what the size limit was. A citation was issued to the vessel captain.