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Two arrested for dumping alligator into L.A. lake

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 15:11 CDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two men have been arrested for releasing a man-sized alligator into a Los Angeles lake, where the big reptile has eluded increasingly frustrated authorities for two weeks, police said on Wednesday.

Anthony Brewer, 36, was taken into custody on Tuesday night at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of San Pedro, where police said they found remnants of a make-shift alligator habitat, two snapping turtles and drugs.

Evidence seized there led officers to the nearby home of Todd Natow, 42, who was also arrested. A Los Angeles police spokesman said officers discovered three alligators, four piranhas, three desert tortoises, six tortoise eggs, one rattlesnake, a scorpion and marijuana.

The spokesman said investigators believe that Brewer owned the alligator and gave it to Natow, who put it into Lake Machado in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles about two months ago.

The reptile was reported to authorities about two weeks ago and since then has dodged repeated attempts to capture it by park rangers and professional gator wranglers brought in from out of state.

The cagey creature has meanwhile won the affection of some local residents, who gather around the 53-acre (21 hectare) lake waiting for it to surface from the brackish water.

Others have hawked T-shirts bearing an alligator drawing and the words: "Harbor City You Will Never Catch Me."

Source: REUTERS

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