STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

RELATED STORIES

• Alligator Mike faces trial for poaching
• Police Beat: Jan 14, 2007 - Collier County

More Police, Fire and Courts

• Marco Island Police Briefs: Nov. 21, 2008
• Former Lely standout faces charges in S. Carolina
• Rambosk creating new future during transition to Collier sheriff

Share and Enjoy [?]

NAPLES — An East Naples man was sentenced Monday to 1½ years in prison in an alligator poaching case.

Michael Thomas Dempsey, 46, earlier this year had rejected a plea bargain for 1½ years in a state prison on suspicion of alligator poaching, an offense he was slapped with on Jan. 12. He was found with a roughly 5-foot, live alligator in his laundry shed at South Winds Trailer Park, blue tape holding its mouth shut and a rope in its mouth that held it to a ladder. The third-degree felony is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison.

Dempsey was originally offered two years in prison, which Assistant State Attorney Denise Tyler said was due to a lengthy criminal history, involving multiple

About nine years ago, he was profiled in the Marco Eagle, which chronicled “The Wild Life of Alligator Mike” and how he eats alligator meat and wears their hides.

He was amiable in court Monday when he entered a plea of no contest, chatting with Circuit Judge Frank Baker, who inquired about whether Dempsey enjoys eating alligator meat.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good,” Dempsey said. “Not this much, though.”

As Baker looked over Dempsey’s deposition, he remarked, “I’ve got to tell you, I don’t get to read many like this one.”

Dempsey chuckled, then corrected himself: “I’m sorry to laugh, sir.”

“It’s OK,” Baker replied. “I think I was about to.”

Dempsey told Baker that he only took the animal to get photos with his grandchildren. He said he grew up surrounded by wildlife and feared that they would have few opportunities, he told the judge.

Dempsey was given credit for time already served, but an inquiry to the Collier County Jail to learn the extent of his time served was not answered Monday afternoon. Dempsey was not available for comment before or after the hearing because he was in custody.

This was Dempsey’s fourth alligator offense, the second since it became a felony. Twice in 2000 he was arrested and convicted, once for a misdemeanor charge of taking an alligator without a permit and then for possessing or killing an alligator.

In 1999, he was convicted of possessing an alligator. He also was convicted of fishing without a license, taking a baby otter out of season, and possessing a gun and light at night after being caught shining a light into a lake in 1985.