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Man Arrested for Throwing Alligator Into Fast Food Restaurant


FILE - An American alligator chomps a snowy egret at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, Florida. (Don Specht)
FILE - An American alligator chomps a snowy egret at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, Florida. (Don Specht)

A man who allegedly threw an alligator through a fast food drive through window as a “prank” in southern Florida now faces criminal charges.

Authorities say Joshua James, who is in his 20's, threw the gator through the window last October as a joke on a friend who was working at the Wendy’s restaurant in Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Although the incident happened last year, James was taken into custody this week.

“It was a stupid prank,” his mother, Linda James, said.

James now faces charges of aggravated assault and unlawful possession and transportation of an alligator.

According to investigators, James found the one-meter-long reptile along the side of the road and put it in his truck.

Then, he went to Wendy’s, ordered a drink and then tossed the gator through the window, they said.

The gator was later released into the wild.

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