Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Alligator's eyes shot, beaten to death

Alligator's eyes shot, beaten to death
Big Pine Key, FL (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Mar 24, 2006
County: Monroe
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Charges: Felony CTA

Abusers/Suspects:
» Timothy Brian Goll
» Jordan Milo
» Theo Derleth
» (name undisclosed) Juvenile

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Case ID: 11964

Classification: Shooting, Beating

Animal: bird (wildlife), reptile

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In March 2006, a female alligator was brutally attacked and killed within the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key. Timothy Goll, 18, Jordan Milo, 20, and Theo Derleth, 19, have been charged with alligator poaching. Details about a fourth juvenile suspect are undisclosed.

Two resident American alligators, protected species, lived at the Blue Hole, an observation pond, together, for years. On March 24, 2006, the men allegedly killed two or three migratory birds, then left and illegally returned after dark. Reportedly using the dead birds, they lured the smaller female alligator closer to them, then shot her eyes out with a high-powered pellet gun and beat her to death with a baseball bat. They then took her body back to a home on Big Pine and took pictures and posted them on Myspace.com. The alligator was butchered and the meat taken to a BBQ party a few nights later.

Florida activists collected thousands of signatures on a petition urging that criminal cruelty charges be brought for such a heinous crime, and ALDF asked advocates to urge prosecutors to file cruelty charges in addition to poaching. The three defendants were charged only with poaching. Court records indicate that the third defendant, Theo Derleth, was given a deferred prosecution as part of a diversion program.

Case Updates

After Monroe County Circuit Judge Mark H. Jones heard hours of testimony from both friends and foes of two men who admitted clubbing a protected alligator to death last year, he handed down his decision Friday:

Six months in jail, five years probation, and eight hours of community service a month for three years working with animal groups. They also must be psychologically evaluated.

After Jones read the punishments, handcuffs were slapped on Timothy Goll, 19, of Marathon and Jordan Milo 20, of Big Pine Key, and they were immediately taken to the Stock Island Detention Center.

The pair pleaded guilty this past June 5 to alligator poaching, a third-degree felony, for killing the American alligator at the Blue Hole on Big Pine March, 24, 2006, then barbecuing it in Marathon.

They had lured the animal out of the freshwater reserve using dead birds, then shot the 6-foot female's eyeballs with a pellet gun and beat it to death with a baseball bat.

Milo and Jones argued after Milo told Jones his sentence means he will be discharged from the U.S. Army. He was waiting to deploy to Iraq and was wearing his uniform during the hearing.

"You just don't get it," Jones said, adding that he thought for a minute that Milo was sincerely regretful, but his comment swayed him otherwise.

At the beginning of the hearing, Milo spoke to Jones and a filled courtroom -- many people wearing green in support of alligators -- about the regret he feels for his behavior.

"Animal lovers -- their hearts were harmed by me," he said. "Animal cruelty is not something that I stand for. I am deeply, deeply sorry."

Because of his guilty plea, which amounts to a conviction, Milo can no longer serve in the military.

Alison Higgins, a Big Pine Key resident and member of Friends and Volunteers of Refuges, said the offenders "need to serve as an example," speaking against the concept that the crime can be excused as a "boys will be boys" incident.

Milo and Goll's attorneys have 30 days to appeal the sentence. Ken Padowitz, representing Milo, said he plans to appeal on the grounds that Jones allowed community members without a "nexus" to the incident to testify.

Padowitz emphasized the fact that his client had no prior record, but Jones pointed out an incident from seventh grade written in a presentence investigative report. No arrest was made in that incident.

Goll was charged with drunk driving after he was arrested for killing the alligator. His father, Andrew Goll, said his son was parked in his car and had bought alcohol. He waited 74 days to bail him out of jail, he said, getting a little choked up.

"I've seen the depression, as he's learned the consequences of this senseless act," Andrew Goll said.

Jones clarified that the case was not one of animal cruelty, but of taking a protected alligator from its habitat, which is a more serious charge.

He offered aggravating factors: he believed the act was premeditated, and that the defendants caused unnecessary pain to the animal and were overall insensitive to nature.

He said, however, that he does take their youth into account.

Source: Keynoter.com - Sep 7, 2007
Update posted on Sep 10, 2007 - 5:25PM

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Scheduled to face a jury in mid-June 2007, Timothy Goll and Jordan Milo, each facing one felony count of poaching, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, June 5, 2007. A pre-sentencing investigation was ordered by the Court - a sentencing date has now been set for Friday, September 7th at 8:45am.

Source: ALDF - August 2007
Update posted on Aug 9, 2007 - 3:21PM

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ALDF - March 2006

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Alligator's eyes shot, beaten to deathBig Pine Key, FL (US)

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Alligator's eyes shot, beaten to death
Big Pine Key, FL (US)