Killing an alligator out of season has four Palm Beach County men facing felony charges. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission charged the men with alligator poaching after a Royal Palm Beach woman videotaped them beating a 10-foot alligator in a backyard of the Country Club View subdivision, agency spokesman Willie Puz said.
Steve Camillera, 33, Robin Rosovich, 40, and Thomas Beniamino, 44, all of Royal Palm Beach, and Domingo Riviera, 50, of Loxahatchee, face up to five years in prison.
Nicole Hallman said she was closing her blinds about 7 p.m. on May 22 when she saw four men gathered around something, striking it with a large tool. Hallman and her husband realized it was an alligator. After calling authorities, Hallman, 20, began recording.
"It was really a torturous kind of event," she said. "They had the tool stuck in his head and it was wiggling and twitching and taking its last gasps of breath. They took some kind of big knife and were gouging it in its side and poking its eyes."
State Attorney's Office spokesman Michael Edmondson declined to comment on the case and whether additional charges, such as animal cruelty, might be forthcoming.
Poachers typically kill an animal to sell its parts, Puz said.
Hides fluctuate from $10 to $20 per foot and an alligator head sells for $100 to $300. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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