Meet Woman Who Had Alligator In Her Yoga Pants
Floridian, 25, removed reptile during police stop
MAY 7--Meet Ariel LeQuire, the woman with the alligator in her yoga pants.
As you may have heard, the 25-year-old Floridian was in the passenger seat of a pickup stopped at 3:15 AM yesterday after the vehicle rolled through a stop sign at an intersection in Punta Gorda.
Upon approaching the truck, cops asked LeQuire and driver Michael Clemons, 22, where they were coming from at that hour. Clemons explained that the duo had been attempting to collect frogs and snakes underneath a nearby overpass.
Asked if they would be willing to open their backpacks for inspection, Clemons and LeQuire agreed to the police request. While Clemons’s bags only contained clothing and personal effects, LeQuire’s backpack held “41 small turtles,” according to a Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office report.
After being read her rights, LeQuire was asked by a deputy if she had “anything else” on her person.
“Ariel proceeded to pull an alligator out of her yoga pants (about one foot in length) and placed it into the bed of the truck,” the report notes. The alligator is seen in the below police photo.
After the alligator’s emergence, Fish and Wildlife Commission agents arrived at the scene and began conducting their own investigation (the outcome of which has not been announced).
LeQuire, who has worked as a crabber, was convicted in 2016 of violating a county ordinance prohibiting animals from running at large. She was also a defendant in a 2017 paternity action filed by a male petitioner. (1 page)
