Cobra Owner Faces Charges After Panic

The man whose poisonous Egyptian snake slithered away from his front yard and remained on the loose for three months before being caught inside a nearby school now faces federal charges for illegally bringing the deadly snake into Massachusetts.

Anthony Ferrari, 23, of Stoneham, Mass., was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston with a two-count criminal information charging him with violating federal wildlife protection laws.

Tut, a lethal banded Egyptian cobra, 18-to-20 inches long, slithered away from Ferrari’s lawn in Somerville, Mass., in August.

Its disappearance touched off a panic in the area, as well as a massive search for the rambling reptile. It reappeared inside a fourth-grade classroom at an elementary school across from Ferrari’s house on Nov. 6.