Pet store shoplifter walked out with baby alligator under his shirt

A thief at a Beckley, West Virginia, pet store walked out with a foot-long baby alligator shoved under his shirt. Surveillance video caught the man grabbing the 3-month-old reptile from its cage and roling it up in his shirt before walking out.



Employee Anthony Williams said he went to feed the alligator and when he didn't see it and realized it wasn't hiding under any rocks,  he checked the tape and recognized a man who they say is a frequent customer and already owns an alligator himself.

He told another employee he came in for food and distracted her looking around for some other things when another man in a green shirt did the dirty work ... and it appears as though there was a child with the two. "Doesn't seem like the safest thing to do ... I'm just shocked ...


YouTube link.

"Every business has to deal with shoplifting but I would just would not expect an alligator to be shoplifted," said Williams. Williams said even though it was a baby gator, he sure wouldn't put it under his shirt. "I mean I can imagine the boy probably got bit on the way out, it's just an awful strange thing to do," Williams said. The alligator is valued at about $300.