Two men from Baltimore, Maryland, have been charged for allegedly using exotic animals—including snakes, a lemur, and a spider monkey—in photoshoots involving three semi-clothed models and a ring of fire in a parking garage beneath Towson Town Center, a luxury shopping complex.

Photographer Vernon Crowfey III, 32, owner of the company Photogeniks, was arrested on July 16, 2026, after an undercover officer arranged a shoot involving the animals. Jayden Evans, 25, who owns Tarzan Exoticz, a business selling personalized photoshoots with exotic animals, was also arrested alongside Crowfey.

Charging documents state that Crowfey and Evans obtained the animals from North Carolina without the necessary permits. The photoshoot took place in a parking garage where Crowfey photographed three women posing with the animals, and video footage shows the garage floor lit on fire.

According to the documents, “Vernon Crowfey was observed in a multitude of joint posts with Jayden Evans where he is the photographer for the animal shoots, and Jayden Evans is the animal handler during the photoshoots.”

The arrests followed a sting operation after a Baltimore police detective confirmed with the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that neither man held a valid Class C exhibitor or dealer license, as required under the Animal Welfare Act.

Charging documents further state, “Based off of what the USDA specialist and Animal Control Officers observed at the scene, neither the lemur or spider monkey were in proper living conditions, which led to their overall neglect.”

In a related comment on exotic animal ownership, Goode remarked, “Finding Nemo made everyone want to buy a clown fish. When I used to travel in Asia 10 to 15 years ago, I would see owls in the marketplaces, and people would say: ‘Oh, those are Harry Potter birds.’”