(WWJ) - A 39-year-old man is pleading with authorities after a run-in with the law in northern Michigan led to his pet alligator being turned over to an exotic animal rescue.
Josh Applebaum, of Oak Park, called the situation "just ridiculous" after a June 11th incident with police led to him briefly behind bars and his nearly 3-year-old alligator, "Karen" being taken into custody at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotic in Lake City, Mich.
Now, he may need court intervention to get his beloved reptile back.
"I need to get her out of there now," Applebaum told The Detroit News on Monday evening.
The rescue claims Applebaum failed to identify Karen out of a group of other gators at the site and therefore has a right to keep her after authorities relinquished the reptile into their care.
"I haven't been able to stop pacing," Applebaum said of the situation. "She is literally like my child."
Related
Ten days earlier, Applebaum was allegedly speeding along US-10 in Lake County near where he was looking at property -- with Karen as his passenger -- when he caught the attention of a deputy. Applebaum, who has several arrest warrants from another jurisdiction, said he panicked and tried to flee from police
The chase ended when Applebaum's vehicle got stuck between two trees on the Rails-To-Trails pathway near S. Forman Rd. in Webber Township.
As Applebaum spent the night in jail, sheriff's deputies took his alligator to be looked after at the rescue facility where she has been ever since. When Applebaum tried to pick-up Karen after he was released, he was told by the rescue he wouldn't be able to get her back until June 17 because April Cicchelli was unavailable.
It's now Tuesday and Karen's owner wants her back.
Applebaum admits his fault in the incident, but said he was scared about losing Karen.
"I panicked in a stressful situation," he said. "I didn't want to lose the most valuable thing in my life."
Applebaum said via The Detroit News that he purchased the reptile at a pet store in Roseville and together they've amassed a TikTok following of thousands of users.
Related
When he and his mother showed up unexpectedly to Cicchelli's on Friday after consulting with the sheriff's office, Applebaum claims he was not allowed on the premises.
After he contacted police, Applebaum told The Detroit News that staff when allowed him to pick Karen out of the enclosure, "but "I couldn’t get within 10 feet of them," he said. "How am I supposed to inspect the alligators to pick which one is Karen?"
April Cicchelli and her husband Ryan told The Detroit News that Applebaum took over 30 minutes searching among the 200 alligators in the reptile enclosure and Applebaum continued to pick out the wrong animal.
"We decided it was plenty enough time for him to identify and us to resume our operation hours without him causing a scene at our facility," April Cicchelli said.
She also said that authorities had given her the option of whether or not to give Karen back to Applebaum.
Her husband, Ryan, added that an employee repeatedly brought animals out for Applebaum to identify, as no one outside of staff is allowed in the enclosure due to liability concerns.
Related
![Escaped African cat captured in Royal Oak, returned to owner [VIDEO]](https://radioimg.audacy.com/aiu-media/Screen-Shot-20211013-at-120531-PM-79a358d9-2bc0-4b75-9449-cd219b8d73e7.png?crop=16:9)
"I think we went above and beyond to try to work with him," he said. "There's just no outcome of him taking the wrong gator. If he goes through his court stuff and gets stuff figured out, we’ll just have to see what it looks like. ... If he gets the alligator and he goes back to jail, then what’s the outcome of that?"
Applebaum said he can hardly sleep without Karen, who enjoys laying out in her pool at home or drinking water from a spray bottle. Applebaum believes Cicchelli is only dodging his attempts to get his alligator back.
"Everybody has a bad day. Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean you get to steal my alligator from me," he said.
Applebaum is now looking into what his next move will be and is considering hiring an attorney.
"It’s just ridiculous," he said.
Related
Related
