Grilled Rattlesnake Bites Campers With $200 Fines

A group of Glen Burnie men have been fined $200 apiece for reportedly fixing a meal with a bite to it: rattlesnake.

The men were camping in the Green Ridge State Forest in August when they killed the snake with a BB gun and grilled it, reports WTOP. The rattlesnake is a protected species in Maryland.

Four of the five campers charged were fined Tuesday in District Court in Cumberland.

Austin William Golas, 18, Paul Harold Lafon IV, 19, Travis Christopher Luedtke, 18, and Erik Lee Reffitt, 19, all pleaded guilty to possessing or destroying a rattlesnake and other offenses, according to The Capital-Gazette.

Maryland Natural Resources Police say their officers also found alcohol, marijuana and LSD when they checked the group’s campsite.

Each of the men was given probation before judgment; the conviction will be expunged from their records if they successfully complete probation. They also were fined $500 each, with all but $200 of their fines suspended.

A fifth suspect, Jared Brandon Holt, 19, of Glen Burnie, is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 8.

»Photo of timber rattlesnake, from the Virginia Herpetological Society website