Florida Alcohol Awareness Class Could Kept Monkey Thief Out of Jail

by: Mike Miller
5/18/2017

As a counselor for both in-class and online Florida alcohol classes I assure you that it is always a bad idea to drink and drive. This is especially true when you drink and drive with your illegal exotic pet.

When police in Largo, Florida pulled over Eugene Carl Kotelman they did so because he was speeding. Speeding is a dumb decision. According to jalopnik.com Kotelman’s decisions continued to be clouded by poor judgment as he also had a suspended license, were drunk and had his illegal pet money on the steering wheel!

Initially police officers released the monkey—whose name is believed to be Doc Holliday—to a friend. However, once Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers found out about the incident they quickly tracked down Kotelman and arrested him again, charging him with possession of wildlife and two counts of violating fish and wildlife rules. After the arrest the FFWCC took custody of the illegal monkey.

If this story wasn't already weird enough, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had been on the hunt for Kotelman and "his simian companion" for some time. 

Kotelman is now believed to be the Youtube user who posted videos of several small monkeys kept as household pets under the user name "monkeysdaddyg". One of the videos is this one which shows a man driving down the highway in an F-350 while monkeys grab the steering wheel and play with a glow sticks. 

The status of the other two monkeys in the videos—named Uncle Sam and Koty—is not currently known, but we wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they manage to do a better job avoiding capture by authorities than Kotelman.

This guy is a virtual menace to society. I hope he gets an alcohol class and the counseling he needs to keep him sober and on the right side of the law.