Jeudi

Kawayne Powell

Rodney Thornton

The baby gator thieves have been snapped up. On July 4, two men broke into the Audubon Zoo Swamp Gift Shop and plundered a pod of ten baby alligators from their display tank, police said. Nine of the gators were eventually recovered, but the thieves remained on the loose until Wednesday. One of the alleged gator grabbers, 20-year-old Kawayne Powell, turned himself in yesterday at 10 a.m. to the Second District Police Station, police said this afternoon. The other alleged thief, 29-year-old Rodney L. Thornton, was less compliant when he was apprehended last night.

Shortly before 10 p.m. last night, Sgt. Mark Mumme was patrolling the 900 block of Poeyfarre Street in the Warehouse District when he saw Thornton pulling on several door handles of parked cars, police said. When Sgt. Mumme approached Thornton, Thornton took off. Mumme requested backup. One responding officer saw Thornton pull a gun from his waistband and drop it on the ground as he continued to run. The gun was recovered by police. During the foot chase, Thornton ran through an open lot, where the cops apprehended him. 

After checking Thornton’s record, officers learned that Thornton had been identified as one of the two men who abandoned a container of eight live baby alligators near the intersection of Soraparu and Roussaeu Streets the day after the ten baby gators were reported missing from the Audubon Zoo Swamp Gift Shop. After they ditched the gators outside a woman’s home, that evening Jefferson Parish police pulled over a car of the same description for a traffic violation. The drivers, Powell and Thornton, were driving a stolen car with one baby gator inside. According to an NOPD press release, the police “made [an] apprehension,” and afterwards issued a warrant for their arrest for Illegal Possession of Stolen Property.

Police did not explain why Powell and Thornton were back on the streets days after being pulled over in a stolen car with one stolen baby alligator, and after being positively identified as the gator thieves who ditched their reptilian loot in front of a witness’ home.

Kawayne Powell, after turning himself in yesterday, was charged with Possession of Stolen Property.

Rodney Thornton was booked with Illegal Possession of Things (Alligators), Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, 2 Counts of Armed Robbery, Attempted Armed Robbery, Tampering and Resisting a Police Officer. He was previously arrested on a variety of burglary and drug charges.

"This suspect- who was trying to break into any car with an unlocked door, was carrying a gun, and was capable of committing a violent crime if our patrol officer hadn’t noticed his behavior," NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas said. “This is a clear cut example of the fact that most criminals are not specialists…they’re generalists.  This suspect's crimes range from marijuana possession to 2 counts of armed robbery. This is why the System needs to recognize the beginnings of criminal patterns and make it clear:  Commit a crime, and there will be consequences”, Serpas said.