Florida Man Arrested with Guns, Drugs, and an Alligator
We talk a lot about “Florida Man” – the colloquial name of the myriad of oddball criminals that find themselves being arrested and detained in The Sunshine State, but we really don’t give enough credit to the police who need to handle them.
Florida is a wild state. Police are routinely called out to deal with all manner of strange crimes. From a man literally eating a women’s face while on a drug called bath salts, to the weekly python trouble, these intrepid officers are always going to bring the best stories to national law enforcement gatherings.
This week was certainly no exception.
Michael Marolla, 31, was stopped by local law enforcement at around 12:30 a.m. after officers said they recognized him from a previous encounter regarding a suspended license. Marolla was one of three individuals in the car, including Adam Scarborough and Marco Duran, according to police arrest records.
And here’s where things take a decidedly Floridian turn.
Officers at the scene found a baby alligator “in an open plastic tub” in the back of Marolla’s truck, according to a Facebook post by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. They discovered two firearms, one hidden in the glove box and another underneath the front passenger seat, police said.
Marolla was also found with two loaded syringes in his jacket that later tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stepped in to handle the alligator issue, after issuing a citation to Marolla for possession of the creature.
