Florida man steals gator meat, Identified by ‘Gators’ license plate, police say - michael towner

​Hand tattoos, a Florida Gators license plate and the suspect’s wife help police catch a seafood theft suspect.
A Port Orange man driving a car with a Florida Gators specialty license plate broke into a seafood store to steal gator tail meat, police said.
James Ellison, 30, already suspected in other burglaries, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of armed burglary by Port Orange police. Ellison, who was previously arrested in a boat burglary by Volusia County deputies, was in jail on Wednesday without bail.
Port Orange police were able to quickly identify Ellison based on information gathered by Volusia deputies when they arrested the Port Orange man for a boat burglary in April.
Deputies obtained video showing Ellison’s hand that had his daughters’ names tattooed on it. In the video deputies obtained, a Hyundai car with a Gators front license plate is also seen. Port Orange police saw the same hand tattoo and the specialty license plate in the seafood store’s video surveillance, a Port Orange report states.
Police also got help from Ellison’s wife, who confirmed the tattoos and his identity and reported that Ellision had stolen from the seafood store on several other occasions, Port Orange police investigators said.
Ellison’s wife also reported that her husband had a penchant for fishing equipment but had also stolen lawn equipment and firearms. The woman told police some of the stolen items were in Ellison’s garage, a report shows.
For many years now, Florida legislators and certain DMV staff have verbalized their opposition to new and, in some cases, existing specialty license plates, arguing that the plates interfere with law enforcement as they cannot identify the license plate. This is clearly an example of how this particular specialty license plate assisted law enforcement, and there are many other instances of this.

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