SUN HERALD (Charlotte, Florida) 08 July 03 Woman gets probation for gator offense (Christy Arnold)
Punta Gorda: Circuit Judge Isaac Anderson Jr.'s shoulders shook with laughter Monday as Leslie Strickland explained she was trying to be a good Samaritan when she put a 6-foot alligator -- "with big tears coming out his eyes" -- into the back seat of her car so her friends wouldn't make "gator tail on the barbie."
Strickland faced felony charges of possessing an alligator. She pleaded guilty to a lesser offense Monday of unlawful transportation of an alligator.
On Feb. 22, officials responded to a wreck near the 20300 block of Quesada Avenue in Port Charlotte. There, in the back seat of a Honda, rested a 6-foot gator -- which was still alive.
The driver had fled the scene. Charlotte County Sheriff's deputies learned a woman had been driving the vehicle and made reference to the fact that a large gator was inside the car.
A deputy and Florida Highway Patrol trooper found Strickland at 20105 Dante Ave., near the site of the wreck.
An uncooperative Strickland was arrested, claiming she and her boyfriend hit the alligator the previous night. She was returning to pick it up, "as she wanted to rehabilitate it and keep it as a pet," according to the original arrest report. Strickland later told deputies she was going to get help for the injured gator.
Strickland stood beside defense attorney Paul Sullivan Monday morning, pleading with the judge that she was trying to help the alligator.
"She was being a good Samaritan?" Anderson asked.
"She was," Sullivan responded. "I know it sounds unusual."
"How big was this gator?" Anderson said, after referring to the case as a "road kill case."
"Six feet," Sullivan said.
Anderson then joked that most of the 6-foot gators he knew resided in Gainesville, at the University of Florida.
"Have you ever been charged with anything this egregious?" Anderson asked Strickland.
"This tops it," she replied. "I really was doing a good thing."
Strickland received one year of probation.
Woman gets probation for gator offense