Authorities: Snake bit theft suspect

CLARKSVILLE, Ind., June 2 (UPI) -- Authorities in Indiana say two young men admitted stealing a snake from a nature center after one of them was bitten by a venomous serpent during a return trip.

Indiana Conservation Officer Jim Hash said Travis Stotts and Dennis Watson, both 19, of Clarksville were expected to be taken into custody this week after admitting they entered the O'Bannon Woods State Park Nature Center through an unlocked door May 7 and took an Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier Journal reported Wednesday.

The men told Conservation Officer James Schreck they returned to the facility May 10 and tried to take a juvenile timber rattler, but abandoned the attempt when the snake bit Stotts.

Stotts was treated for the venomous bite at Harrison County Hospital.

Authorities said the two men are facing charges of felony theft, burglary and misdemeanor unlawful taking or possession of an endangered species.