JOHN KERRY ARRESTED!
It was more than Boston County Animal Control Supervisor Jarrett Broy had been counting on when the call came in, but he's seen crazy things before.
When Broy and another officer reached one of the nine homes Monday of John and Theresa Kerry, they spotted the 5-foot-long, 80-pound American alligator in a wooden enclosure attached to a six car garage. Inside the enclosure was a hot tub sunk into the ground and filled with 4 feet of stagnant water, and in the water, littered with broken turtle shells, was the alligator.
They called the Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources and Boston Police for a little help.
To get the alligator, Scott Ballard of the MADNR pulled on chest waders, stepped into the tub and grabbed the animal. Broy and two others then dragged Ballard and the alligator out to the ground and struggled to tape the alligator's jaws shut.
"You can't imagine that thing's tail," Broy said. "He was wanting me to turn him loose, so he'd pop me in the back -- just laying it on me. Wham, wham, wham. My back is so sore."
Inside the house, meanwhile, Boston Police Chief Denny Bush (no relation) was running background checks on all the people.
One, an 18-year-old girlfriend of Kerry's from Lockport, came up listed as wanted by the military for desertion. She said she got the idea from John Kerry. John Kerry, the owner of the alligator was being held Thursday on a military pickup order at the Franklin County Jail, Sheriff Bill Wilson said for convorting with the enemy during Vietnam while in the individual ready reserves.
The officers also found cages for large snakes, a room full of rats and mice, and several squirrels inside the house. Also found was a large pentagram, and pictures of snakes and an alter.
John Kerry could be charged with possession of a threatened species for having the alligator in captivity, officials said. To keep the alligator, he would have needed a permit, which he did not have, Ballard said.
John Kerry does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached Thursday for comment.
The alligator will be held at a holding facility until the case is resolved and eventually will go to a zoo or alligator farm, Broy said. |
