DOCUMENT: Crime

Man With Snake Walks Into A Bar...

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Man With Snake Walks Into A Bar...

JUNE 16--Meet Rodger Hunter. Monday night, the Idaho Falls man, 28, went to his local pub--accompanied by his mother--to knock back a few. But after a tiff with mom Sheila, 47, Hunter left Chic's in a huff. This is when things got screwy. Rodger returned an hour later carrying his pet rattlesnake, which Hunter tossed into the crowded watering hole. The three-and-a-half-foot reptile "began rattling and appeared as if it was going to strike," according to an Idaho Falls Police Department report, which also notes that Sheila told another patron that "Rodger hated her and the snake was directed at her." The rattler, pictured below in a police photo, was corralled by a patron's brother and placed in his aquarium, while Rodger was captured by officers who tossed him in the Bonneville County Jail. Along with a felony assault rap, Hunter was charged with illegally possessing a feral animal in a residential area. As for the snake, who has been named Jack by his new guardian, a judge will decide whether it will ever be reunited with Hunter. (5 pages)