Animal trapper to face charges in python hoax

Thursday, November 5, 2009

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Trapper Justin Smith is facing charges stemming from a July incident with a Burmese python.

MANATEE COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- The Bradenton trapper accused of staging the capture of a 14-foot Burmese python will face charges.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which investigated the incident, trapper Justin Matthews is facing charges of charges of a single, third-degree felony count of misusing a 911 emergency system and a second-degree misdemeanor violation of maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe manner - resulting in threats to the public's safety.

On July 25, Matthews called Bay area media to a Bradenton neighborhood to witness the capture of a large Burmese python from a drainage pipe.

Matthews told the media he was performing a public service by capturing a large snake residents had reported seeing over a period of months.

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In fact, Matthews had purchased the snake legally from a properly licensed reptile dealer in Tampa a month earlier. He purposefully, and illegally, let the snake go in the drainage pipe and then staged its capture for the media.

The story made national headlines.

Matthews admitted to Manson, and publicly, that he released the snake and had staged the event to call attention to a growing problem of irresponsible pet ownership.