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WASHINGTON POST (DC) 12 July 08 Checkout Time for Smelly, Slithery Guests - Exotic Snakes Wear Out Their Welcome at Va. Motel (Tom Jackman)
Sure, the movie "Snakes on a Plane" was scary. But how about this sequel: "Snakes in a Cheap Motel Room"?
Fairfax City police said they found 17 exotic snakes, 12 of them venomous, inside Room 11 of the Hy-Way Motel near Fairfax Circle on Thursday night after the motel's management alerted them to a foul odor. The snakes took up residence at the Hy-Way on Sunday and were not detected by the housekeeping staff because they were concealed in luggage, police said.
Two of the smaller snakes, possibly future meals for their larger brethren, passed away during their vacation at the Hy-Way, police said, creating the telltale odor that led to their sudden eviction yesterday.
Police said the reptiles might belong to an Arlington County man who proudly kept as many as 100 exotic snakes in his home until county authorities recently moved against him.
The snakes did not endear him to the neighbors, who occasionally came across the random Mexican lancehead rattlesnake rambling about the 'hood. So in May, Arlington passed an ordinance banning venomous snakes and other poisonous reptiles.
Fairfax City Lt. Mike Artone said that a man paid for a week in advance at the Hy-Way and that the man "may be involved in some kind of similar case in Arlington County." He did not disclose the man's name because he had not been charged with a crime -- though it has long been illegal in Fairfax City to harbor venomous snakes -- and had not been located by the police.
Arlington officials said yesterday that Peter T. Nguyen, 39, of Quintana Street in North Arlington, had been given a deadline of July 1 to remove all venomous creatures from his home. Police Detective Crystal Nosal said she did not know whether animal control officers had visited Nguyen to be sure his home was venom-free.
Fairfax City police said late yesterday that an "unnamed Arlington man" called them, after being contacted by a reporter, and volunteered that, yes, the snakes of the Hy-Way Motel were indeed his.
Lt. Bert Peacher said the man planned to come to police headquarters today and pick up his summons, a misdemeanor, for harboring venomous snakes, which could subject him to a fine if convicted. The man's name would be released then.
Nguyen could not be reached for comment yesterday. He declined to speak with WRC-TV (Channel 4).
Peacher said the man explained that he was in the process of snake divestiture, had sent a number of his scaly friends to Florida but had one last batch in the area. The man said that he had placed the deadly reptiles with a friend but that the friend had to return them unexpectedly. This led the man to stash them at the Hy-Way, Peacher said, and he was unaware that they had been discovered and relocated.
Fairfax City police checked other area motels and hotels and did not find any legless guests.
Police said the snakes had been stored in vented plastic boxes, which were placed inside large vinyl bags throughout Room 11. Housekeepers who checked the room did not see anything disturbed and had no reason to open the bags, including some next to the mirrored headboard. The guest who rented the room apparently was not staying there.
But the foul odor caused the motel's proprietor to call police Thursday night, Artone said, and after discovering the slithery but seemingly contained menagerie, officers backed off until more-expert snake-handlers could be summoned.
An animal control officer and two snake experts visited the Hy-Way yesterday to catalogue the snakes and oversee their removal to an exotic-animal zoo in central Virginia, police said. The breeds included African puff adders, cottonmouths, rhinoceros vipers, albino cottonmouths, speckled rattlesnakes and a black-headed python, police said.
Exotic Snakes Wear Out Their Welcome at Va. Motel

NBC 14 (Washington, DC) 14 July 08 Charges Filed Against Owner Of Venomous Snakes Found At Motel - Suspect Forced To Remove Snakes From Arlington County Home Following Ban
Fairfax, Va.: Investigators have identified and charged the owner of 17 snakes, including 12 venomous snakes, that were found Thursday night in a room at a Fairfax motel, according to the city of Fairfax Police Department.
Peter T. Nguyen, 39, met an Animal Control officer Saturday and was served with seven summonses for keeping the snakes as pets, a class three misdemeanor.
A suspicious odor coming from one of the rooms at the Hy-Way Motel in the 9600 block of Fairfax Boulevard was reported to police at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Officers found the snakes confined in containers. The renter, later identified to be Nguyen, was not present.
The room was secured overnight, and the snakes were removed Friday morning and taken to an exotic-animal zoo.
The venomous snakes included African puff adders, cottonmouths, rhinoceros vipers, albino cottonmouths, speckled rattlesnakes and a black-headed python. They were in plastic containers stowed inside vinyl bags. The housekeeping staff did not know the snakes were there.
Police said Nguyen did not stay in the room, apparently spending $70 a night to use it for snake storage.
Nguyen was forced to remove the snakes from his Arlington County home because of a ban on venomous reptiles that was enacted on June 15. In the spring, fearful neighbors complained about Nguyen's snakes to the county board. Neighbors blamed Nguyen for a series of snake sightings in the area.
About two years ago, Larry Koskinen stepped on a venomous rattlesnake in his garage. Barb Misra spotted a five-foot snake in her garden. Earlier this year, a 4-year-old almost ran over an exotic serpent on the sidewalk with her doll stroller.
Nguyen denied those snakes came from his house.
But a March incident in which a plumber showed up at Nguyen's house to fix a broken hot tub and found containers of dead snakes on the porch convinced county officials to move swiftly to enact the ban.
"This is not one of the harder votes that I've had to make," board member Jay Fisette said after the vote.
Nguyen has 30 days to get his poisonous snakes out of the county.
"This isn't about snakes," said Koskinen, a father of three, who lives next door to Nguyen. "This is about protecting our children. That my neighbor has something from Mexico or Africa that could kill my child violates the social compact in a profound way."
Two of the loose snakes were found next door to Nguyen's house and one was found in a yard that backs up to his. Still, Nguyen insists it would be "an impossibility of physics" for the snakes to have been his. He said he doesn't collect those species. The snakes he does collect are kept in the kind of plastic containers used in labs to hold rodents, secured from the outside with bolts.
On March 11, a plumber went unannounced to Nguyen's house to fix the leaky hot tub. When he spied 20 or so dead snakes in containers nearby, he called 911. Within minutes, police cars and an animal control van arrived. Nguyen said he refused to let the officers in; he hadn't done anything wrong. He said he explained that he had taken the dead snakes out of the freezer, at a researcher's request, to begin to "skeletonize" them.
Officers milled around Nguyen's property for more than five hours and peered through the windows of the garage with a scope.
Under Arlington County code, it was previously illegal only to "display, exhibit, handle, or use any poisonous or dangerous reptile in such a manner as to endanger the life or health of any person."
Charges Filed Against Owner Of Venomous Snakes Found At Motel