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VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida 14-year-old is potentially facing charges after surveillance video showed him picking up a baby alligator by its tail and swinging it around his head, and kicking dirt onto it, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
The teenager was arrested and booked into the juvenile detention center for possessing or harming an alligator without approval from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, a level 4 felony, according to the arrest affidavit.
What we know:
The incident was reported Friday night, April 3, near the docks by the Stetson Aquatic Center in Deland.
According to the report, someone called the Volusia Sheriff's Office after seeing a group of teenagers near the docks, and one of the teens appearing to toss a baby alligator around.
The teens told a Volusia County deputy that they were fishing and said they did not know anything about an alligator, the report said.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video which, according to the report, showed the 14-year-old teenager "holding a baby alligator by its tail and swinging it back and forth," while another child reportedly took photographs.
The surveillance video did not capture every moment.
The person who called 911 told deputies that she watched the event happen live on surveillance video and witnessed the teenager swing the alligator over his head, kick it, and kick dirt onto it, the report said.
Detectives said it appears that the teenager put the alligator back in the water, but then more kids showed up in a golf cart, so he took it out of the water to show them.
The video cuts out again, the report said, but the woman said she believes the teen put the alligator back in the water.
The parents or guardians of the other children were contacted, the report said. No charges had been recommended for them, the report said.
All five were trespassed from the Stetson Aquatic Center.
FOX 35 is not naming the teenager because he has been charged as a juvenile.
What they're saying:
"You just don’t do that," said Sheriff Mike Chitwood. "You do not abuse wildlife, and unfortunately, this young man is going to learn a very expensive lesson in that."
"Abusing wildlife is not a way to spend your downtime," said Sheriff Chitwood.
FOX 35's Hannah Mackenzie talked with AJ Ellis, an FWC-licensed nuisance gator trapper.
"It's just pretty sick," he said. "It makes me pretty angry."
"Florida law does not allow you to, to go catch an alligator or many other animals without being licensed, having the proper permits or, you know, during any sort of a regulatory hunting season," Ellis said.
"It's no different than kicking a puppy down the street or grabbing a puppy by the tail and swinging it over your head," said Ellis. "I just don't know why somebody would do something like that."
The Source: The information was pulled from the arrest affidavit obtained by FOX 35 via a public records request. FOX 35's Hannah Mackenzie also talked with Sheriff Mike Chitwood and AJ Ellis, an FWC-licensed alligator trapper.