Sea turtles have it rough in the beginning. They have to battle confusion, predators, and, in this case, grabby thieves before they even have a chance to live out in the open ocean. Imagine the surprise, then, when police officers found sandy little turtle eggs in a Florida man’s nondescript white van during a vehicle search. 

It might not be a live gator in this Florida man story, but it was still enough to get the attention of Fish and Wildlife

Wesley Winters, a 53-year-old Florida man, was parked in the wrong place. Not like a reserved space or a fire lane. No, it was a home where Winters had been arrested in the past.

He was parked in front of a home belonging to an elderly person he had assaulted. It was a crime that resulted in a criminal no-contact order, meaning he shouldn’t be there. Naturally, police arrived to question Winters.

The 53-year-old Floridian complied with the police, stepping out of the van. That’s when a deputy on the scene noticed an anomaly on the floorboard of the vehicle: a collection of sandy, white turtle eggs.

The Florida man consented to a vehicle search, saying he wasn’t “aware of” any drugs in the van. Still, police found marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and a solitary tablet of alprazolam, a medication used to treat anxiety disorders.

As for the sea turtle eggs, it was more than enough to raise the attention of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Winters told an FWC officer that the sea turtle egg nests had eroded. He told authorities he had gathered the remaining eggs and believed they were “non-viable,” per WESH 2.

Needless to say, the FWC charged Winters with five felony charges for taking marine turtle eggs. And if that weren’t enough, he’s also looking at five misdemeanor counts of possessing fewer than 11 marine turtle eggs. Sea turtles are protected marine wildlife, which includes the eggs they bury in the sand. So, take a page from this debacle and leave the poor critters be.