Posted at 8:47 a.m. EST Saturday, December 29, 2001

Boca Grande man arrested for taking alligators

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- (AP) -- State officials charged a Boca Grande man Friday with forging documents to illegally hunt dozens of alligators.

Jack Ridley Harper, 57, was charged with 67 felony counts that includes trafficking in stolen property, uttering a forged instrument, identity theft and unlawful harvest of alligators.

Investigators said Harper forged signatures to illegally obtain alligator hunting permits in 1999 and 2000, allowing him to take about 60 reptiles and sell them to alligator products dealers.

State law requires hunters to place a state-issued tag on the carcass of the alligator and complete a report on each hunted reptile. The permits are issued through a random computer drawing of applicants.

The investigation was initiated after wildlife officials discovered irregularities in records of last year's Public Waters Alligator Hunt.

Alligators, with a statewide population of 1.5 million adult animals, are not an endangered species in Florida, but they are protected by law and are only harvested by a permit.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates that 4,000 alligators are removed by nuisance trappers and 2,000 alligators are hunted each year.

Harper faces up to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for dealing in stolen property, a first-degree felony. The remainder of the offenses are third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.

He was being held Friday at Lee County Jail on $25,000 bond.

[Don't you just cringe when you read the word 'harvest' in this story?]

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001