{"id":256378,"date":"2026-05-03T08:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256378\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T08:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:36:21","slug":"cops-stop-florida-man-with-13-zip-tied-iguanas-inside-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256378\/","title":{"rendered":"Cops stop Florida man with 13 zip-tied iguanas inside vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Florida Highway Patrol officers made a routine traffic stop in Polk county, they were treated to a cold-blooded sight \u2014 13 live, zip-tied iguanas in the truck bed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/polk-county-driver-caught-thirteen-live-iguanas-tied-up-truck-fhp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to local news outlet Fox 13<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The FHP troopers pulled over 32-year-old Rendon Casildo-Acdiel around 6:30 a.m. on April 30 because his Ford F150 truck didn\u2019t have a light for the license plate on the utility trailer he was towing, troopers said. <\/p>\n<p>But after a search of the truck, they discovered the lizards in a haphazard pile with their feet zipped together. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.75;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39262769\" width=\"443\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thornhill-road-winter-haven-florida-126841660.jpg\" alt=\"A truck bed with lizards in it\" class=\"wp-image-39262769\"  \/>When Florida Highway Patrol officers pulled over Rendon Casildo-Acdiel on SR-540 in Polk County Fla., they were treated to a slimy sight. instagram\/fhp__tampa<\/p>\n<p>If that wasn\u2019t weird enough, the driver was toting five coolers of iced tilapia.<\/p>\n<p>Casildo-Acdiel told troopers he was visiting the Sunshine State to get coconuts from Miami and fish from Polk County, and then he was heading back home to North Carolina, according to Fox 13.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.75;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39262771\" width=\"443\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thornhill-road-winter-haven-florida-126841653.jpg\" alt=\"A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper pulling a live lizard from the back of a driver's vehicle\" class=\"wp-image-39262771\"  \/>A Florida Highway Patrol trooper has his hands full after a routine traffic stop turned weird. instagram\/fhp__tampa<\/p>\n<p>However, according to FHP, this \u201cseemed to be a lot of travel for items which could have been more easily obtained in North Carolina,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfla.com\/news\/polk-county\/13-live-iguanas-with-feet-zip-tied-together-found-in-polk-county-traffic-stop-driver-arrested-fhp\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRi1vJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFXa2k1d0NCdXJMT2diZWU2c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmq927RI3fiys72kqF9Dmf5t2Ha4KDK_xz1SZPORGZUEhIIVPFDBk7INhLdc_aem_k3hwHkGdA5X1oVCbAY-dmQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">reported Polk County\u2019s News Channel 8<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After conducting a check cops discovered that Casildo-Acdiel had a suspended Georgia license and no Florida license.<\/p>\n<p>Troopers state that when questioned about the suspension, Casildo-Acdiel told them that he had failed to complete court requirements in Georgia for a ticket and was aware that his license was suspended.<\/p>\n<p>Casildo-Acdiel was arrested and now faces a charge of driving with a suspended license, according to FOX 13. <\/p>\n<p>A check also showed that the driver had outstanding warrants from three different agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The iguanas were reportedly taken to a local shelter.<\/p>\n<p>It remains unclear if Casildo-Acdiel will be charged in connection with the reptiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Florida Highway Patrol officers made a routine traffic stop in Polk county, they were treated to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[692,28,30,3475,29,76468,111323,4278],"class_list":["post-256378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-arrest","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-man","tag-florida-news","tag-lizards","tag-traffic-cops","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}