Staff report

3:05 p.m. CDT, May 6, 2011

A Ford Heights man kept an alligator in his home because “chicks dig it,” he told police who arrested him.

Dewayne Yarbrough, 43, was arrested Thursday at his home in the 800 block of East 11th Place after the Cook County Sheriff’s animal crimes unit received a tip about Yarbrough keeping the American alligator at his home, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

He faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous animal.

Officers obtained a search warrant for Yarbrough’s home and found the alligator in the kitchen there on Thursday, police said.

The alligator is about 4 feet long -- alligators often are as long as 14 feet -- and Yarbrough told investigators he only fed the animal 10 live mice once a month and kept it in a small fish tank to keep down its size, according to the news release.

Yarbough told police he kept the animal because “chicks dig it,” according to police. Yarbrough bought the animal for $200 in Indiana five years ago, according to the release.
 
The alligator was taken by officers and Cook County animal control to the Chicago Ridge Animal Welfare League. The Chicago Herpetological Society will take the animal at a later date, police said.

Yarbrough was free after posting $100 bond and scheduled to appear in Markham Court on July 5, according to the sheriff’s office.