WASHINGTON — He went by the moniker “VenomMan20” on social media and on Tuesday, the Washington County, Maryland, man was found guilty of possessing a number of venomous snakes.
Last February, the Maryland Natural Resources police searched the apartment of 29-year-old Brandon Joseph Boyles, of Cascade, and found six rattlesnakes, a 7-foot-long cobra and two boomslang snakes, a news release said.
Boyles kept the snakes in improperly secured plastic bins, one of which was filthy, police said. The snakes lacked freshwater, as well, and they are potentially fatal to humans. Police also found two dead snakes in a freezer.
Boyles worked at Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo until September 2017. He took five venomous snakes, three alligators and a crocodile, which he owned, when he left.
The crocodile, alligators and a rattlesnake were transferred to the Maryland Reptile Conservation Center in Dickerson, Maryland, police said.
The zoo has a permit to keep the venomous snakes. Boyles, however, did not have a permit to keep them in his house.
The judge dismissed Boyles’ other charges of illegal possession, animal cruelty and reckless endangerment as part of a plea agreement.
