PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A St. Petersburg man is dealing with charges in connection to some unusual theft cases.
He is implicated of taking a set of unusual tortoises, and likewise unusual books.
According to St. Pete authorities, 46-year-old Joshua McCarty Thomas is implicated of taking and after that keeping at least half a lots tortoises in his lawn.
What You Need To Know
- St. Pete man dealing with charges of taking tortoises
- Joshua McCarty Thomas is implicated of taking and after that keeping at least half a lots tortoises in his lawn
- Microchips on the reptiles verify they were the taken tortoises
Authorities said a search warrant at Thomas’ 10th Street South home showed up 2 missing Galapagos tortoises that had actually been taken from a zoological park in St. Augustine.
One tortoise lived. Another was discovered dead in a freezer, though there is no word how it passed away.
Microchips on the reptiles verify they were the taken tortoises.
Detectives state the unusual tortoises deserve about $10,000 each. They can grow to more than 500 pounds and can live 150 years.
“(It’s) really uncommon,” said authorities representative Yolanda Fernandez. “I indicate sometimes we’ll have somebody who takes antiques or antiquities or unusual books. It’s unusual however it does occur.
“I can’t think about a case where we have somebody who took threatened tortoises.”
McCarty is likewise charged with taking unusual books from 2 St. Pete businesses and countless dollars’ worth of comics from a shop in Ocala.
St. Pete authorities state McCarty will be extradited to St. Augustine to be pursued the tortoise theft and might deal with more major charges considering that a threatened types passed away in his belongings.
