A Lakeland man faces charges after he killed an alligator, cut off its tail and tried to sell the meat to neighbors, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

A licensed alligator trapper found the seven foot alligator with stab wounds to the head and missing its tail at Lake Parker on Sunday night.

During the FWC's investigation, several witnesses said Shaun Edward Sparks, 33, of 1816 W. Lake Parker Dr. in Lakeland, had tried to sell them the alligator tail. Officers who arrived at Sparks' house found the three-foot long appendage.

Sparks "spontaneously uttered that he stabbed the alligator with a large knife, then cut off its tail," his arrest report said.

After he was taken into custody, Sparks told investigators that he took the animal home to show his girlfriend, the report said. The couple then walked around the neighborhood looking for buyers.

Sparks faces two charges for possessing and killing an alligator. His girlfriend, Christy Michelle Vincent, 27, also of Lakeland, faces a charge of possessing an alligator.

FWC officials confiscated the tail.