Two men pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lake County Circuit Court for their role in cutting up and disposing of the carcass of "Baby," the giant python of Serpent Safari in Gurnee Mills.
Sliced-up sections of Baby, including a 5-foot-long tail section, had been found Oct. 29 in a wooded property in Warren Township. The store owner initially denied the remains were Baby's.
Kevin R. Curtis, 20 of Lake Villa, and Randall W. Frolich, 21 of Lindenhurst, both entered negotiated guilty pleas Wednesday to reduced charges, petty offenses of improper disposal of an animal carcass.
The recommended pleas and sentences were negotiated by defense attorney Timothy Konz and prosecutor Scott Turk.
Associate Judge Charles Johnson accepted both recommendations and sentenced the pair to conditional discharge, with $100 fines and 40 hours of public service work. Curtis was also ordered to make a $200 donation to A Safe Place, a shelter for abused women and their children.
Baby was once listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the heaviest snake in captivity -- 403 pounds. She was 27 feet long. Her age was estimated at more than 27 years old.
The snake died of "the snake form of heart disease" last Oct. 29, a day after undergoing surgery, store owner Lou Daddano had told The News-Sun Nov. 3. That came a day after he claimed the snake had died one year earlier and had been cremated. Daddano contended that the two men had offered to dispose of the snake, and he agreed, but he didn't know they planned to cut it up.
Daddano could not be reached Wednesday. Other store spokesmen said Curtis is still employed, as a part-time "tour guide and zoo-keeper," and that Frolich is Curtis' friend but has never worked there.
Jerry Lange, who owns the 10-acre woods, had been touring his parcel with friends when they stumbled on "Baby's" tail section. Lange had become suspicious earlier in the day when he saw Curtis drive a van to the backwoods area.
Curtis eventually told Lake County sheriff's deputies that the snake remains were left in the wooded area in the hopes that coyotes would dispose of what was left of "Baby" and the store would avoid negative publicity.
Other sections of "Baby" were located in the woods and disposed of by Lake County Animal Control officials, who said the remains could have been harmful to any animals who might have eaten them.
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