Authorities raided the Brookhaven, N.Y., home of an animal control officer and found that he was in possession of 850 snakes and had been selling the animals on the Internet from his home, according to CNN.
Richard Parrinello had been keeping the reptiles in the detached garage of his suburban home. Included in his menagerie were two six-foot long Burmese pythons; the enormous python can grow up to 30-feet-long and are illegal to own in the state of New York. Two young children in New Brunswick, Canada, were killed by a similar African rock python last month, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities had been watching Parrinello in order to determine if he was working while he was collecting disability from the his job as an animal-control officer for the town of Brookhaven when they learned that he was selling the reptiles. Parrinello was caught on camera boasting that he had $500,000 worth of snakes and turtles in his garage, according to the Associated Press.
"It was a well-maintained facility, it was very clean and organized, it was a business," Jack Krieger, communications director for Brookhaven, told CNN.
Parrinello has been selling the animals on a website called "Snakeman's Exotics." Other than having the pythons, which were confiscated and sent to an animal sanctuary in Massachusetts, Parrinello wasn't breaking any laws so he wasn't arrested. He was, however, violating city code by running the business out of his residence without a permit, according to CNN.
"What makes this case especially egregious is that this individual was allegedly operating this reptile business out of his home, posing an unknown threat to the neighbors of this community," Ed Romaine, Brookhaven Supervisor, told CNN.
It is unclear what will happen to all of the snakes if the business is forced to shut down or if Parrinello will be able to obtain the proper permits and continue to operate from home.
