Florida agency’s undercover gator farm leads to 9 arrests
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Thousands of illegally harvested alligator eggs and several illegal alligator hunts were discovered by undercover officers working in a fully functional alligator farm set up by Florida’s wildlife agency, leading to the arrest Wednesday of nine men on 44 felony charges.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission began setting up the undercover operation four years ago in an effort to track down unpermitted alligator and alligator egg sales. The agency leased land in rural Arcadia in southwest Florida, bought equipment and alligators and ran the Sunshine Alligator Farm using two undercover officers who set up residence on the property.
The officers would go to trade shows and began forming relationships with others in the tightly regulated industry.
They soon set up a business arrangement with Robert Kelly Albritton and joined him on expeditions to harvest alligator eggs, which were brought to the agency’s farm. Although Albritton had permits to harvest eggs, he took far more than he was allowed and violated rules restricting the number of nests from which he could take eggs, forged paperwork and violated a requirement that the activity be supervised by a certified wildlife biologist, according to an affidavit filed to obtain arrest warrants.
