A teenage boy who was seen stealing an endangered lemur from a California zoo has been sentenced to 3 months in prison.
Isaac, the lemur with the ringtail, was stolen from the Santa Ana Zoo in July 2018 and ultimately was recovered without any harm.
The final decision in the case of the stolen Santa Ana Zoo lemur was unveiled on Monday. A judge sentenced Aquinas Kasbar, a 19 years old boy from Newport Beach to three months in federal prison for stealing Isaac. This ring-tailed lemur is also the oldest lemur in captivity in North America.
Kaspar admitted to his crime in July to illegally picking up an endangered species, a crime, and faced up to 12 months in prison, and he has to deposit a huge fine of $100,000. He also must give the Santa Ana Zoo $8,486 in as a token of compensation.
Kaspar went into the Santa Ana Zoo on July 27, 2018, after it had shut down for the day. He used bolt removals to dig a hole in the zoo’s barriers for lemurs and capuchin monkeys, allowing many of the animals to get out. However, they were later recovered.
Kasbar stole the 33-year-old Isaac to use him as a pet, sneaking him in a plastic drawer without breathing holes for the rest of the evening.
The next day, he place the lemur in front of a Marriott hotel in Newport Beach and kept two notes on in front of the plastic drawer that said: “Lemur (with a tracker)” and “This is a property of the Santa Ana Zoo it was stolen last night, please take it to police.”
Isaac eventually was taken back to the zoo unharmed.
The teen’s family refused to comment on the incident and opined that the authorities could have taken a lenient view of the things.
