STAR PRESS (Muncie, Indiana) 02 November 07 Snakes on a bus lead to arrest of Muncie man (Rick Yencer)
Muncie: Dustin A. Draper picked up a box of venomous baby timber rattlesnakes at the post office Thursday and rode home with them on a city bus.
When he got off at his Morrison Road apartment next to the north Wal-Mart, state conservation officers and county police were waiting to arrest him again for possession and transportation of dangerous reptiles without a permit.
"He wants to be cool and have venomous snakes," said Sgt. Ed Rucker, a conservation officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Draper, 21, is known to the DNR as a buyer and broker of venomous snakes. He was arrested last November on similar charges when he tried to sell an undercover conservation officer an eastern diamondback rattlesnake. He was given a suspended 60-day jail term and fined $360 in Muncie City Court on that charge last spring. Draper also faces similar charges in August for possession of an adult cobra.
Anyone in Indiana handling dangerous or wild animals must have a state permit, and possessing endangered species like timber rattlesnakes, found in southern Indiana, is illegal, Rucker said.
Local authorities also were concerned that Draper was transporting venomous snakes on a city bus and through the post office.
It was postal inspectors who caught Draper this time and tipped DNR and county police to the shipment.
Draper, 2607 N. Morrison Road, Apartment 4, was preliminarily charged with possession of an endangered species, a class A misdemeanor, and transportation of a dangerous reptile and possession of a dangerous reptile without a permit, both class C misdemeanors.
He remained in jail under a $3,500 bond Thursday afternoon.
According to court records, Draper uses the classified ads on a Web site, www.venomousreptiles.org, to buy and sell venomous snakes.
His profile on that Website showed him owning timber rattlesnakes, an Egyptian Cobra, copperheads and cottonmouths a year ago. Draper lists his favorite species as a Red Diamond rattlesnake and he claimed to have kept snakes for five years, handling them for 10 years.
Rucker said Draper had called the DNR about the Cobra after concerns that it might be venomous. Draper has been advised to get a state wild animal permit, according to court records, although he never applied for one.
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711020337
WISH (Indianapolis, Indiana) 02 November 07 Man Arrested for Bringing Poisonous Snakes onto Muncie Bus (Jennifer McGilvray)
Muncie, Ind.: Department of Natural Resources investigators say 21-year-old Dustin Draper illegally purchased venomous, baby timber rattle snakes on the internet. After the snakes arrived by mail, Draper then boarded a Muncie bus with his package, but officers arrested him before he made it home.
By law, poisonous snakes are required to be locked in a container, kept in a locked room with a warning sign posted.
Venomous snakes are protected and you need to apply for a permit to own one, Draper never did. Before a permit is even granted, a DNR officer would have needed to notify all of Draper's neighbors. Plus, Draper would have to have anti-venom easily available in case he or anyone else got bit.
Marie Williams, manager at McDonald's Pet Shop says owning a snake is a big responsibility.
"There's a lot of time involved in it, heating, you have to have certain lights." "You don't want to take a chance somebody opening up the mail by mistake and getting killed over something like that," added Williams.
Snake owner Michael Reno said Draper put the snakes' health at risk as well. "Coming from possibly a warm state to cold state could definitely stress the animal out."
This isn't Draper's first offense. Investigators say Draper has been in trouble twice before. Once for receiving a cobra snake in mail. Draper faces preliminary charges of possession of an endangered species and transportation of a dangerous reptile without a permit.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7305328&nav=0Ra7
