A Festus man charged with stealing a boa constrictor from a Lemay pet store in November told authorities he lost the snake at the Festus Lowe’s Home Improvement store.
But, a Lowe’s spokeswoman says no snake has been found at the store.
Marshall John Parsons, 20, was charged Feb. 3 in St. Louis County Circuit Court with one count of stealing animals, a class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
Parsons was charged after James Brumley, owner of Exotic Amphibian & Reptile Center, reported that a young Brazilian rainbow boa constrictor was stolen from its case Nov. 30.
Parsons, who was released on $5,000 bond, told authorities he opened the snake’s case at the store with a screwdriver, put the creature in his jacket and left. He said he last possessed the snake the same day at the Festus Lowe’s Home Improvement store, said Sgt. Brian Schellman of the St. Louis County Police.
The Lowe’s spokeswoman said Feb. 5 that regular inspections are done at the company’s stores, and no boa constrictor has been found in the Festus Lowe’s, 1111 Bradley St., in the months since the alleged incident.
“Our stores are regularly inspected by third-party pest inspectors,” Lowe’s spokeswoman Karen Cobb said. “This is part of our routine maintenance and could have located a reptile had there been one. Regular, routine pest inspections have occurred at the Festus store. The most recent was Feb. 3. Nothing unusual has been found during any of the inspections.”
On Feb. 4, Brumley said the snake, valued around $250, had no chance of surviving on its own in a cold St. Louis fall.
“It’s got to be 80 or 90 degrees (for the boa constrictor) to survive,” he said. “He (Parsons) said he had it with him and lost it that day. It’s a baby. Its chance to survive is zero.”
Brumley said the boa constrictor was 12 inches to 14 inches long. That type of boa constrictor eventually grows to 4 to 5 feet, he said.
“They can live up to about 25 years,” Brumley said.
He said the snake would not pose a threat to humans.
“There was no danger to people, just the animal,” he said.
Brumley said he was instrumental in Parsons’ capture by posting store surveillance footage of the incident on the Internet.
“We put surveillance photos on Facebook and people identified him,” Brumley said.
The information was turned over to authorities, he said.
Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said his department is not involved in the case.