2 men fined after pleading guilty in connection with Kiski River alligator sightings

By MADELINE BARTOS

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    LEECHBURG, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Two men connected to several alligator sightings along the Kiski River this year were ordered to pay fines after pleading guilty.

Austin Randall and Dominic Hayward both pleaded guilty to violating rules and regulations of the transportation and sale of fish. They were each fined $179, court records show.

The fines follow multiple alligator sightings in Kiski Township over the last several months.

One day in October, a Kiski Township man said he opened his front door and found a gator on his porch. He told KDKA-TV he was expecting friends to stop by when he got a call from one of them saying there was a 5- or 6-foot alligator on his porch. He said he believed the gator had wandered up from his neighbor Dominic Hayward’s home.

Humane agents that day seized 10 gators from Hayward’s home, citing safety concerns for the animals. Those animals were expected to go to a reptile sanctuary in the south.

In September, Austin Randall said his 2-foot-gater “Neo” made a break for it when he was moving the animal to a friend’s house. Neo got loose from his container.

“I tried to sneak in to catch him and he started running, took over the hill,” Randall said during an interview with KDKA-TV in September. He called it “a total accident.”

A month before that, a 4-foot-gator, named “Chomper” by rescuers, was caught on the river by two anglers in a canoe. It followed multiple sightings of the alligator. Chomper will join a Pittsburgh-based reptile rescue as an animal ambassador. His new job title involves showing kids that while alligators are pretty cool, they aren’t ideal pets.

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