Los Angeles – Two men, one a former Los Angeles police officer, were arrested for allegedly conspiring to release an alligator in a small lake, prompting the city to bring in reptile wranglers, keep crowds at bay and impose heavy patrols, police said today.
A tip from the public led to the arrest of Anthony Brewer, 36, and Todd Natow, 42, following raids at separate homes in the San Pedro area, said Jim McDonnell, assistant chief for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police said Brewer gave the alligator – named “Reggie” – to Natow, a former LAPD officer, who then released it in the South Los Angeles lake about 20 miles south of downtown.
Natow, who started with the LAPD in 1984, left the department in 2001 for reasons that weren’t clear, McDonnell said.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn said attempts to capture the gator and to patrol the lake cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
“This beautiful lake is not a place to dump your animals when they grow too large for your back yard or aquarium,” she said at news conference today.
Brewer was arrested Tuesday at a home in which officials found evidence of an alligator habitat, photographs of alligators, narcotics and two live snapping turtles, police said.
Natow, who was arrested early today, had numerous animals, including three alligators, four piranha fish, one rattlesnake, three desert tortoises, six desert tortoise eggs and one scorpion.
He also had six marijuana plants, officials said.
The confiscated animals were in the care of the state Department of Fish and Game.
Meanwhile, the lake alligator remained at large. Three wrestlers and a cameraman from Gatorland in Orlando began scouring Machado Lake on Tuesday.
The Florida crew offered to do the job for free (travel expenses not included), and even will drive the reptile back to Gatorland if the city decides not to keep it. The attempt follows an unsuccessful search last week by Colorado-based gator wrangler Jay Young, who tried for two days and was paid $1,600.
“We have a 110-acre park where alligators live a long, happy, sheltered life,” Gatorland spokeswoman Michelle Harris said. “We think he would make a nice fit.” The gator – who’s been nicknamed “Carlito” and “Harbor Park Harry” – could be housed in an exhibition area with two other gators “captured from notorious backgrounds,” Harris said. One was seized in Miami and one is known to eat dogs, she said.
“They offered to take it back, but we haven’t decided that’s the right thing to do,” Hahn said. “After all, it’s an L.A. gator.” The creature was first spotted Aug. 12, and officials initially believed it was a close alligator relative from the Amazon called a caiman.
Crowds gathered around the cordoned lake, binoculars in hand, in hopes of a sighting.
Some lobbed tempting treats, including tortillas, french bread, jelly doughnuts and raw chicken. Vendors began selling T-shirts with an alligator logo and the tagline: “You will never catch me!!” Television crews staked out the lake, but the gator has generally been camera shy. Rarely have people seen much more than its eyes poking above the water line in recent days.
Tim Williams, Gatorland’s so-called gator guru and dean of gator wrestling, said all the attention visitors have been lavishing on the lake creature won’t lure the reptile. What will, he said, is grunting out a gator call.
“The eyes glow red at night and when you grunt ’em, it’s just a gruntin’ call,” said Williams, who claims to have spent 30 years wrestling gators. He demonstrated the call by making a rapid guttural noise that sounded like someone trying not to throw up.
“We’ll try to hunt him at night, get close, either get a noose or grab him,” Williams said. “He’s not that big, and then we’ll go from there.”
