A school teacher was arrested after police found hundreds of living and dead snakes in his home in Santa Ana.
The police gagged at the stench as they served the school teacher a warrant. A team of police, dressed in biohazard jumpsuits and facemasks, then entered the five bedroom home and pulled out 182 live pythons and more than 240 dead ones. Live and dead mice and rats were also found throughout the home.
“The smell alone – I feel like I need to take a shower for a week. They’re pretty much in all the bedrooms – everywhere,” said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.
Sondra Berg, animal supervisor with the Santa Ana Police said, “Worst case I’ve ever seen. Two years ago, we found 110 cats in an 800 square-foot home. This is much more severe.”
The teacher’s neighbors had complained about the foul odor coming from this home for several months. They thought the odor may have been coming from trash.
What got this case moving was when some Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on his door. They thought the smell may have been coming from a dead person and called the police.
The school teacher was booked on suspicion of cruelty to animals. Police will also be looking into whether the teacher was selling snakes from his home without a permit.
According to neighbors at the scene, the teacher lived alone and had grown increasingly depressed following the recent death of his mother. Officials believe he was breeding snakes and working to develop various color and pattern combinations in snakes, known as morphs.
