Deputies find baby gator while towing suspect’s car

Things went from bad, to worse, to only-inFlorida for a burglary suspect early Sunday in Orange County, when deputies discovered a baby alligator in the back seat of his getaway car, an arrest affidavit said.

According to the Sheriff ’s Office, deputies were called about 2:30 a.m. to a business on Sandy Creek Lane, off Colonial Drive in east Orange County, after a man later identified as Grant Davis Belcher was spotted lurking around a Ford F-350 truck.

Witnesses told deputies Belcher took off running after the truck’s vehicle alarm went off, hopping into a Chevy Impala driven by a woman later identified as Megan Forbes, 30.

The Impala drove off, but was later spotted by a deputy who followed the pair to East River High School, the affidavit said.

As the deputy followed, they drove past a pair of gates onto school property while the school was closed — resulting in a misdemeanor trespassing charge, the arrest affidavit shows.

Both were taken into custody. According to the affidavit, Belcher confessed to opening the F-350’s doors and going inside the truck, while Forbes denied any involvement in the burglary.

When deputies searched the Impala prior to towing it, they found a garbage can in the back seat, the affidavit shows. Inside the can was a baby alligator with its mouth taped shut, deputies said.

Belcher claimed he had gotten the alligator from a friend and had planned to “release it in water,” according to the affidavit.

Belcher, 32, and Forbes were each arrested on charges of burglary of a conveyance and trespassing on school grounds, records show. Belcher also faces a charge of alligator poaching, a third-degree felony.

Both remained in the Orange County Jail on Monday.