New Castle police found 17 “dangerous reptiles,” along with “a large amount of crack cocaine” after executing a warrant at an apartment building, they announced Tuesday.
Officers arrested three suspects, about 115 grams of crack cocaine, two loaded handguns, more than 99 grams of marijuana, several prescription drugs, and most intriguingly, 17 reptiles, some of which were six feet long, after the raid on Friday.
A three-year-old child was also found.
Arrested on drugs and child endangerment charges were Jerimiah Feaster, 28, Antonio Graves, 32, and Jennifer Chadwick, 25.
Officers first went to the Heritage Court Apartments on the 5500 Block of Heritage Court Drive to execute multiple warrants on Chadwick, including violation of probation.
The reptiles included 16 monitor lizards — specifically Savannah monitors, Water monitors, and Black-throated monitors, as well as one Columbian Red-Tailed boa constrictors.
“Several of the lizards were up to 6 feet in length and were described by [Brandywine] Zoo staff as deadly and extremely dangerous, especially around children. These lizards were not legal to own and are considered an exotic species,” the New Castle County Police Department said in a statement.
Officers called in the Brandywine Zoo and Kent County SPCA to help deal with the animals.
The lizards were taken by the Kent County SPCA to a reptile rescue in New Jersey, police said.
The child was released to the custody of a family member.
