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WKRG 5 (Mobile, Florida) 22 May 05 High School Dean Charged With Killing Alligator (Kesshia Peyton)
A Florida high school official is facing felony charges.
Michael Vann is a dean at Escambia High School.
Sheriff's deputies say he shot and killed an alligator which is against the law.
Vann says he was just trying to protect his children.
"I saw a couple of ripples and my dad said go into the house, 'I see the gator just went under I see him coming your way. I can just see him under the surface,' " said Michael Vann's daughter Kaitlin Vann.
Michael Vann says he did nothing wrong.
He shot and killed a 5-foot alligator in the bayou Marcus.
Vann says the reptile had been lurking near the family's home for several days when it was about to attack his daughter.
"We don't have a problem with the alligators, we know that they exist. They come and go and they have for years, but this one was obviously very threatening. Scared the daylight out of us," said Michael Vann's wife Karen Vann.
Vann's action now has him in trouble with the law where he's facing felony charges of poaching.
His 9-year old daughter Kaitlin, who was fishing that day, says this was a different circumstance.
"It just makes me real proud of him that he was protecting this whole family. He broke the law so he could protect the family like this," said Kaitlin.
The Vann family says they tried several times to contact wildlife officials about their unwanted neighbor, but they say their calls never got through."
"I looked through the phone book to look for several other agencies and I couldn't find a number under fishing or wildlife and the best number I could come up with for animal control was under termites," said Karen.
Vann says since Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would never come out, he had to make a decision on whether to protect his family or live in fear.
For everyone else, they're glad he made the choice that he did.
"I would like to see the charges dropped completely. I think he deserves a medal for being the greatest dad of the year," said Karen.
News Five tried contacting Florida Wildlife ourselves to see if we could get through.
We called at different times of the day and no one could be reached.
At one time, we reached a voice mail which directed us to a toll-free number for emergencies, but it was out of service.
High School Dean Charged With Killing Alligator

GAINESVILLE SUN (Florida) 24 May 05 Officers dispute Pensacola dean's gator-killing story
Pensacola, Florida: State wildlife officials are disputing a high school dean's claim that they failed to respond to complaints about an alligator stalking his children before it was shot.
Michael Stewart Vann, a dean at Escambia High School, was charged Friday with poaching, a third-degree felony with possible penalties ranging from probation to five years in prison.
Vann said he shot the 4- to 5-foot gator in Bayou Marcus behind his home on May 9 only after repeatedly calling the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's nuisance alligator hot line for about two weeks without a response.
"When I finally got a human being, they said it's 4-foot or 5-foot, and we're not coming out," Vann said.
Capt. Brad Williams, supervisor of the Conservation Commission's Pensacola office, said Monday that dispatchers always answer the number Vann called and forward alligator calls to the nuisance program.
Phone records show no calls from Vann until after the gator was dead. A neighbor called May 12 to report finding a dead alligator in the bayou.
Vann initially told officers he had killed a snake with a shotgun. The next day he acknowledged shooting the gator after investigators removed two rifle bullets from the reptile, said Conservation Commission Lt. Buddy Gomez.
"He said nothing about fearing for his daughter's safety," Gomez said.
In media interviews, Vann said he fired to protect his 9-year-old daughter after the gator charged her.
Gomez said Vann, instead, told investigators he was worried about losing his job and had a friend keep the rifle for him so officers would not find it.
School employees arrested on felony charges ordinarily are placed on paid leave until their cases are resolved, but Vann has remain on the job because officials believe he was trying to protect his family, said Escambia County School District spokesman Ronnie Arnold.
"It's not like he shot this alligator for a trophy," Arnold said.
Officers dispute Pensacola dean's gator-killing story