JACKSBORO, TENN.--Reality TV isn't supposed to get one in trouble with the law, but that's what happened to Andrew Hamblin, one of the stars in National Geographic's 16-part "Snake Salvation," which concluded at the end of last month.

Hamblin, who lives in LaFollette, Tenn., a small town 33 miles north of Knoxville, is one of a coterie of Pentecostal pastors who handle snakes in church services in the belief that several verses at the end of the New Testament book of Mark (Mark 16:17-18) commands Christians to do so. The reality show went into great detail about Hamblin's extensive collection of water moccasins, rattlesnakes, copperheads and other death-dealing vipers.

The downside: The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency raided his church on Nov. 7.

They allegedly found 53 venomous snakes in a storage room at the Tabernacle Church of God, a church Hamblin has pastored for two years. They charged Hamblin, 22, with 53 counts of possession of class I wildlife, which includes poisonous snakes. This has been illegal in Tennessee since 1947 when five people died of snake bite in a church over a two-year period. Each count could mean a year in jail.

More than 100 people packed a court room at the Campbell County courthouse just south of LaFollette in Jackboro, Tenn., Friday morning, many wearing red in support of Hamblin who pled not guilty. A preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 17.