Teenagers who killed, grilled and ate a rattlesnake are fined in court
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Version 0 of 1. Four teenagers pleaded guilty Tuesday to the crime of killing and eating a rattlesnake. The 18- and 19-year-old men, along with three more friends, shot the venomous timber rattlesnake with a BB gun, grilled it and consumed it while camping in a state park, Maryland Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson said. Thomson said that police officers came across the seven young men fishing in Green Ridge State Forest on Aug. 2. The officers stopped to check their fishing licenses, then realized how much was wrong about their campsite. They were illegally drinking beer while underage in the state park. They had chopped down a tree. And then there was the snakeskin, the only remnant of the protected animal. “It was a team effort,” Thomson said, of the teenagers’ hunt, slaughter and feast on the snake. In total, the seven campers got 32 tickets that day, Thomson said. On Tuesday, four of them — Austin Golas, 18; Paul Lafon, 19; Travis Luedtke, 18; and Erick Reffitt, 19 — pleaded guilty to possessing or destroying the snake. Jared Holt, 19, is awaiting trial, and the other two, who are younger than 18, were charged as juveniles. The four who pleaded guilty were fined $500, with $300 suspended, Thomson said. They will have the opportunity to have the convictions expunged from their record in the future, she said. |