Alleged Gator Dumpers Arrested

The alligator remains on the lam, but the alleged alligator dumpers have been snared.

Two San Pedro men -- one a former Los Angeles police officer -- were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of allegedly dumping an alligator into Lake Machado. For two weeks, the creature has eluded self-styled gator wranglers from Colorado and Florida.

The gator’s name is Reggie, and he grew too big for his backyard jungle.

Authorities said an anonymous tip led detectives to the homes of the gator’s alleged former owner Anthony Brewer, 36, and Todd Natow, a 42-year-old ex-police officer.

By sunrise, authorities said they had learned quite a bit more about the gator heretofore known as “Harbor Park Harry.� For one thing, Brewer gave him to Natow after he had become too large and ornery to keep.

Brewer “claims to have had a fond likeness for this animal,� said LAPD Lt. Rick Angelos. “However, the animal got a little too hard to handle.�

Natow had planned to keep Reggie, but he found himself overwhelmed by a reptile that had grown to be about 6 feet long and 150 pounds, Angelos said. So two months ago, Natow and Brewer allegedly released the alligator into the lake, he said.

Detectives on Wednesday seized a virtual mini-zoo at the homes of both men. At Brewer’s house, they found evidence of an alligator habitat, photographs of alligators, two live snapping turtles and marijuana. At Natow’s house, they collected three smaller alligators, four piranhas, one rattlesnake, three desert tortoises, six desert tortoise eggs, one scorpion and six marijuana plants.

The men face felony charges of conspiracy to possess illegal exotic animals and possible drug charges.

Scott Natow, 41, said his stepbrother was a “good guy,� a talented scuba diver, and that he doubted that he would have done something like release a dangerous animal into a public lake. He was not shocked, however, that he was keeping alligators.

“Anybody who knows Todd knows he’s a herpetologist at heart,� Scott Natow said. “For him, having reptiles is like Gerber having baby food.�

Scott Natow said his stepbrother had an “uncanny knack� for spotting and catching all manner of reptiles and other animals since before he was 10. He said he used to raise the rats Todd Natow fed to his snakes as a youth.

“Todd had a unique talent for keeping up with these fast little critters that spring across the desert,� he said. “Ring-necked snakes, lizards, horny toads.... He would see stuff I didn’t see.�

It was with some trepidation that police officers entered Natow’s home -- knowing that exotic creatures might be running wild inside.

“You had several people with weapons on a search warrant trying to push the next person in front of them in first,� Angelos said. “In all fairness to the suspect ... he had these animals in some fashion of containment. Nothing I would want to live next door to, but it was not a situation where our officers were exposed to animals on the floor moving toward them.�

But even as authorities said they had solved one part of the suburban gator mystery, they said they were no closer to nabbing Reggie.

“If we could just run him up or see him, then we could say, ‘OK, we know where he’s at, we know he’s there, we could start with a battle plan,’ � said Tim Williams, a Florida gator wrangler. “But we don’t have a target yet.... We haven’t seen any decent crawl marks. That’s very discouraging.�

Late Wednesday, the gator wrangler and his team said they spotted Reggie. But the trail quickly grew cold, and the team returned to shore empty-handed.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn suggested that it was time to use the arrests to some advantage in the so-far futile search.

“He told us the name, so now maybe we can start calling him, ‘Reggie! Reggie!’ � Hahn said.

“Now that we have the owner, I certainly think it would be in our best interest to talk to him and find out Reggie’s likes and dislikes,� Hahn said. “What attracts him, what kind of food he likes.�

Williams said that wasn’t such a crazy idea.

“We have animals at our park that we work with all the time. They know their name,� said Williams of Gatorland, a 110-acre reptile theme park and wildlife preserve in Orlando, Fla. “We go out there and say, ‘Hey Bob, come here, Bob, over here,’ and he’ll come right up to you.�

But Williams said it might not matter, because he suspects that Reggie knows he is being pursued.

“I’ve just got a suspicion that he’s just so frightened right now,� Williams said. “He’s skittish and he’s afraid, and he doesn’t want to show up.�

Williams said his crew would “intensify the search� but had to return to Florida by late Friday.

LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said that dumping an alligator into a recreational lake could have resulted in a tragedy.

“Kids come and they have no expectation that there’s anything like that as they’re feeding the ducks,� McDonnell said. “You imagine what could occur.�

Authorities said they would consider a number of possible charges but added that with the exception of the drug offenses, “the greater issue here likely will result in fines. There’s a tremendous amount of fines that can be imposed.... That’s likely where the big punch will come from,� Angelos said.

Hahn said she might also try to have the costs of the search covered by the suspects. The city was calculating that sum, she said.

“I think the biggest cost is going to be the overtime of city employees who have been out here around the clock for Gator Watch Day 11,� Hahn said.

Meanwhile, Hahn said, draining the lake or at least lowering the water level could be options. In the meantime, public access would have to be restricted, Hahn said.

“As long as Reggie is in my lake, I’m going to have the lakeshore part cordoned off from families and children,� she said.

At Brewer’s neighborhood in the 1900 block of Elanita Drive, residents declined to speak about the arrest or said they did not know about the animals.

Angelos said many residents had obviously kept quiet about Brewer’s creatures.

“It was a concerned citizen who was aware he had an alligator in his backyard for some period of time [who called], and it’s our belief that many of the neighbors were aware of this,� Angelos said.

Just about a mile away, residents said they knew very little about Todd Natow, who appeared to keep to himself.

Natow was an LAPD officer from 1984 to 2001, when he resigned, authorities said.

According to the district attorney’s office, Natow was charged in May 2000 with possession of a controlled substance and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty to the two counts and was ordered to enter a deferred treatment program that he completed, and the matter was resolved in May 2002.

In 2001, he was convicted in Burbank of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license, according to court records.

Neighbor Nora Spritz, a caregiver for an 84-year-old resident on Moray Avenue, said she remembered seeing Natow “cuddling� a snake in his frontyard several months ago.

“It was all around him,� Spritz said. “I said, ‘What’s that around him?’ I thought, maybe that’s not a real snake. I peeked out the window again, and I said, ‘That’s a real snake!’ �

Times staff writers Matt Lait, Richard Winton and Wendy Thermos contributed to this report.