SANTA ANA,
California – An Orange County man was sentenced today to three months in
federal prison for breaking into the Santa Ana Zoo after hours and stealing
North America’s oldest ring-tailed lemur in captivity to keep the endangered
animal as his pet.
Aquinas
Kasbar, 19, of Newport Beach, was given the 90-day prison sentence by United
States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford, who also ordered him to pay $8,486 in
restitution to the zoo.
Kasbar
pleaded guilty on July 8 to one misdemeanor count of unlawfully taking an
endangered species. He broke into the Santa Ana Zoo on July 27, 2018 after it
had closed for the day. He then used bolt cutters to cut a hole in the zoo’s
enclosures for lemurs and capuchin monkeys, which enabled several of the
animals to escape, though they were later recovered.
While inside
the zoo, Kasbar stole Isaac, a 32-year-old, ring-tailed lemur (lemur catta) and
the oldest such lemur in captivity in North America. (Isaac turned 33 years old
in July; a lemur’s lifespan typically is between 20 years and 25 years.) The
ring-tailed lemur is native to Madagascar and is on a list of the 25 most
endangered primates, according to court documents. Ring-tailed lemurs are
endangered, in part, because of the illegal pet trade, court papers state.
Kasbar then
placed Isaac in a plastic drawer that lacked ventilation holes, court papers
state. The next day, Kasbar abandoned the animal in front of a Newport Beach
hotel, leaving him in the same plastic drawer with two notes placed on it,
which read, “Lemur (with tracker)” and “This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo it
was taken last night please bring it to police,” according to court documents.
Kasbar’s actions resulted in a loss to the Santa Ana Zoo of approximately
$8,486. Isaac later was returned unharmed to the zoo.
his case was
investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Newport Beach
Police Department, and the Santa Ana Police Department.
This matter
was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel H. Ahn of the Santa
Ana Branch Office and Erik M. Silber of the Environmental and Community Safety
Crimes Section.