Another person is facing charges in the case of wayward alligators in Kiski Township.

Stephanie A. Suman, 26, of the 1300 block of Brownstown Road in Kiski Township, was charged via summons last month with two misdemeanor counts each of reckless endangerment and cruelty to animals.

Police say she risked public safety by keeping alligators in a makeshift enclosure that wasn’t fit for the reptiles and couldn’t stop them from roaming the neighborhood.

Suman was ordered to appear Jan. 25 for a preliminary hearing before District Judge James Andring.

The charges are the most serious so far related to alligators roaming the area, which sparked searches over the summer after at least two of the animals were seen in the Kiski River.

Suman’s fiance, Dominic Hayward, 26, was found guilty Dec. 5 of violating state Fish and Boat Commission regulations for allowing alligators to escape into the river. He was ordered to pay a $179 fine, according to court records.

Hayward owned 11 alligators, including a 7-footer named Thor that was kept in a bedroom in his home. Animal rescue crews took them from Hayward’s property for relocation.

Austin Randall, 23, of Lyndora, Butler County, also was fined $179 by the Fish and Boat Commission after telling investigators he lost his pet alligator, Neo, when he tried to give the baby male a temporary home with Hayward.

Police believe Neo was spotted in the Kiski River, but the reptile has not been recovered.

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Kiski officers responded Oct. 5 to Brownstown Road for a 911 call reporting an alligator on the porch of a home, according to a criminal complaint.

A neighbor, who uses a cane to walk, told police he was afraid to leave his home because he wasn’t sure if he would be attacked by the small alligator on his porch, the complaint said.

Police said the alligator, which was between 3 and 4 feet long, tried to escape from the porch by pushing the front door open to get inside the house.

While police waited for Armstrong County Humane Officer Amber Phillips to arrive to remove the alligator, officers checked Suman’s home and discovered a makeshift enclosure in the backyard with seven alligators inside.

Hayward was not charged in connection with the Oct. 5 incident because he was in jail on a parole violation at the time, according to Kiski police Chief Lee Bartolicious.

Police said the pen was made by encircling a small above-ground swimming with chicken wire that was held together with zip ties and rocks.

It appeared the alligator was able to pull down a tarp near the edge of the pool to escape, investigators said.

Phillips told investigators keeping alligators in such a flimsy enclosure posed a danger to public safety.

She also told police alligators typically are kept in water between 84 and 90 degrees, but the dark green water in the pool was only about 55 degrees.

Responding officers said a group of neighbors gathered after they arrived and complained that the couple’s alligators have escaped a number of times in the past.

In early August, before Randall’s alligator got loose, Kiski Township police organized a search team using baited traps to try to locate a 4-foot alligator, nicknamed Chomper, that was spotted several times in the river.

Two recreational kayakers, who captured the reptile in September, told police they grabbed it out of the water by the legs “and prayed.” Chomper is living at Nate’s Reptile Rescue in Pittsburgh.

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