Mission Viejo Man Charged With Illegal Possession of Reptiles

A man was charged Friday with six misdemeanor counts of illegally possessing two dozen reptiles in his home here, including some protected species apparently taken from the desert.

Officials from the California Department of Fish and Game said they believe that Scott S. Craig, 31, was selling the live creatures--worth up to $1,000 each--from his home for more than a year.

Jan Yost, the Fish and Game warden in Orange County, said Friday that Craig was arrested in connection with similar violations in the California desert and in Arizona in the past two months.

Thirteen snakes, including seven rattlesnakes, and nine other reptiles were seized from the living room of Craig’s home during a May 24 Fish and Game raid. Included were a Gila monster, which is a large, orange-and-black venomous lizard; a horned toad; a leopard lizard; an iguana; an alligator lizard; two chuckwallas, which are large desert lizards, and two spiny lizards. A chipmunk and a frog were also seized.

None of the creatures are endangered, but state law protects them or bars their collection.

“He was in illegal possession of everything, and that’s why we took everything,” Yost said.

In the case filed in Orange County Municipal Court, Craig was charged with one count of unlawful possession of reptiles; three counts of illegal possession of a prohibited species (a type of rattlesnake, the chipmunk and an African clawed frog); one count of illegal possession of a protected reptile (the Gila monster), and possessing more than one chuckwalla, the state limit.

Although some of the species are illegal to possess under all circumstances, some of them--such as a few of the rattlesnakes and the iguana--would have been legal if Craig had had a fishing license, which is required to collect or possess those species, Yost said.

Craig, who said he is a construction worker, told Fish and Game officials that he is merely a collector and does not sell the animals. But Yost said Craig had placed ads for at least a year trying to sell snakes.

“We believe Mr. Craig is dealing in native California reptiles,” she said.

Craig reportedly had about 10 aquariums in his home containing reptiles.

“He is really small time as these things go,” Yost said. “Sometimes you walk in, and every room in their house, every wall, is covered with little plastic shoe boxes with one to four snakes inside.”

On May 16, a state game warden in the California desert arrested Craig in Chiraco Summit on suspicion of selling snakes, unauthorized possession of reptiles and exceeding the limit of rattlesnakes.

Despite the arrest, wildlife officials said, the next day Craig allegedly exported the same reptiles illegally to Arizona.

Yost said she was contacted by the desert warden after the May arrest and recognized Craig’s name from local ads, so she searched his home and seized the animals there.

Less than a month later, on June 21, Craig was arrested again, this time in Arizona on 10 felony counts of illegally importing snakes into Arizona and selling them, as well as four misdemeanor counts stemming from two separate undercover buys in May and June. He spent six days in jail.

“We didn’t even know Arizona was doing this,” Yost said. “It just so happened they were investigating him concurrently.”

Yost said she did not need a search warrant to enter Craig’s home because he was on probation in the earlier charges.

“I think he was supporting himself but not making a good living,” she said, adding that one Gila monster can sell for up to $1,000. “This has been going on for at least a year, based on the ads.”