Dr. Pharm and Coby

Date of incident: April 28, 2014

People of Interest:


Doctor Pharm

Description:

Doctor Pharm is a university professor and world-renowned expert in the therapeutic use of snake venom neurotoxins. Through his research at the university, Doctor had been experimenting with cobra venom to develop a treatment to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Because cobras are one of the world’s most venomous snakes, the cages and doors in the lab were equipped with an electric locking system to ensure that the cobras did not escape from their cages or the lab. The heat and humidity in the lab were also carefully controlled because the cobras require a tropical climate to survive

Earlier in March, Doctor Pharm lost his grant funding and had to close the lab. Hoping to continue his progress toward finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, Doctor moved the lab to his home’s garage in suburban Anytown, Ohio. He brought the cobras in their cages, along with lab’s locking system and climate-control equipment. Although the electricity in the garage was sufficient to power the cage and door locks, the climate-control equipment was connected to a separate power source, a gasoline generator. Doctor set up the generator outside the garage because it was noisy and emitted carbon dioxide fumes.

Neighbor, who lived next door to Doctor, immediately began to complain to Doctor about the generator, which sat close to Neighbor’s kitchen window. Neighbor liked to sit in his kitchen and relax while having a cup of coffee and reading the morning newspaper, but the loud noise and vibrations from the generator made it impossible for him to do so. Doctor explained that he could not turn off the generator or his cobras would die. Neighbor could no longer enjoy his morning coffee at home so he started going to his office early each morning to have his coffee and read the paper.

Neighbor's Deck


In an effort to save money feeding the cobras, Doctor decided to catch field mice and other rodents in his and surrounding yards. Neighbor’s deck was surrounded by a flower bed and bushes, which Doctor knew was a perfect habitat for rodents. After Neighbor left for his office some mornings, Doctor would go onto his property to catch rodents. The process of crawling through the flower bed and bushes became cumbersome, however, so Doctor decided to set a few mouse and rat traps in Neighbor’s bushes, unbeknownst to Neighbor.

During the middle of April, while Doctor was away from home, a severe thunderstorm caused a brief power outage. During the 10-minute outage, Coby, the smartest and fastest of Doctor’s cobras, was able to slither out of his cage and escape the garage while the electric locking system was down. Coby went directly to Neighbor’s yard because he could smell rodents in the bushes.

After the storm ended, Neighbor came out onto his deck to check his yard for storm damage. As he walked over to the edge of the deck, he saw Coby slithering toward him on the deck railing. Neighbor recognized the characteristic head of the cobra and was immediately terrified that he could be bitten by the venomous snake. As he quickly moved away from Coby, Neighbor fell backwards down the deck steps into his yard, injuring his back and leg.

As Neighbor tried to pull himself to his feet, he fell into one of the bushes and caught his hand in a rat trap, which broke his finger. Neighbor’s screams frightened Coby, who quickly slithered back to Doctor’s yard. Doctor, who had just returned home, was able to catch Coby and return him to his cage.

Crimes Committed: