Wildlife officials charge owner of Delilah, the 18-foot python

A python named Delilah was moved by Florida Wildlife officials to a temporary home when his cage near Lake Apopka, Fla., was deemed unsuitable on Friday, Sept., 11, 2009. Brother of the owner, Melvin Cheever, left, and snake man Sam Floyd, right, wrestle the snake out into a carrying cage. She had escaped in the past. The 16 year old snake was measured at 18' long and 30" around. She will be moved to a snake handler in Bushnell, Fla. (GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / September 11, 2009)

Anthony Colarossi

Sentinel Staff Writer

5:48 p.m. EDT, September 18, 2009
APOPKA - Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have criminally charged the owner of Delilah, the 18-foot-python removed from an Apopka area backyard enclosure last week.

Robert David Cheever, 39, has been charged with unsafe housing of a reptile of concern, a second degree misdemeanor, according to Joy Hill, an FWC spokeswoman. Within 30 days Cheever can either pay a mail-in fine of $316 to the Orange County Clerk of Courts or request a day in court, Hill said in a statement.

He was also issued a warning for failing to have a reptile of concern permit and no PIT Tag, the identifying microchips inserted into such snakes.
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Wildlife officials charge owner of Delilah, the 18-foot python