Man steals over $1k worth of corals and gets away
17 Comments
With the current state of the economy I’m surprised we haven’t seen this happen more often. A Fish store in Milpitas, California was robbed of over $1,000 worth of pricey corals. As the fish store goes on to describe:
A bit of background of what you’re about to see. The gentleman came in, pretended he wanted to buy a show-size colony of Rainbow Acan (retail value of $650), an Aussie Scoly (retail value of $300), and two Aquacultured Maxima Clams (retail value of $64.99/each) and so that’s what we bagged and put in the box. We then brought the box to the check-out counter to check him out and right before then he asked us to bag another piece. As we proceeded to do so, he then grab the box that we left un-attended and made a mad rush for the door. The culprit stole in total over $1,000.
The thief was caught driving a BLUE TOYOTA FOUR RUNNER. If you know any other info that will lead us to the successful arrest of this individual, we’ll give you $250 in store credit.
If anyone thinks this is just another “marketing scam” ….it’s not. This is a real individual committing a real felony (Milpitas Police Dept. case #10-016-067) and he WILL be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law!
The best part of this is of course that we have video of the guy. Yes. That’s right, video. Check below the break.
Thanks Reggie!
via [Neptune Aquatics]
I have been to Neptune Aquatics before and the extremely nice owners have the hearts of hobbyists like us. They have some really great coral in addition to some unique freshwater fish and it makes me sad to see this kind of selfish behavior perpetrated against a great fish store.
January 18th, 2010 at 8:44 am
In that 2nd video he uses his phone. If this were CSI they’d definitely have tracked him down by that call, plus the probable fish slime on his fingers.
Actually, since this involves water, I suppose this is more a job for NCIS than CSI.
January 18th, 2010 at 8:49 am
If he really made a call at that time it might be possible to track the perpetrator through the cell phone company.
January 18th, 2010 at 8:54 am
It will be difficult to track that guy. He’s clearly from the Matrix.
January 18th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Wooww! that is the second time livestocks been stolen from Neptune aquatics. The first time the corals walked back in after pictures of the thiefs was posted on the web. I hope this guy will return the stolen corals too.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Hmm… I know there’s a pretty tight-knit reef club out in California. If the store has any picture(s) of the coral that was stolen, they should post them so that customers/members can watch out for them.
@Craig- HAHAHA! He looks like JP, the guy from Grandma’s Boy!
January 18th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
It’s either Walt Smith or Bob Fenner hiding behind shades. Seriously, let’s hope someone can identify this character. Will post a link on the CORAL site.
James
January 18th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
this is why my lfs owner carrys arround a Glock 9 on his belt all day every day (hes that guy who would love a reason to shoot someone and get away with it)
January 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
“It will be difficult to track that guy. He’s clearly from the Matrix.”
Best comment I’ve ever seen on RB.
January 18th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
My thoughts exactly Chris !
January 18th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Pathetic, really.
January 18th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Rick, I’m staying out of your LFS. Stealing food is one thing, but stealing acans? when a hobby goes to the extreme.. Teach your staff not to trust shady individuals wearing blackout shades and keep livestock in an area behind the register untill the transaction is completed. sorry this happened.
January 18th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
That’s really pathetic and sad. I hope they catch this guy and Neptune Aquatics recovers their goods. Worst case scenario, I hope they do get some press over it and it brings them some new clients.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Ha case closed. They were caught today.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
“They” – oh there is more than one person… my gosh coral thief gang
January 21st, 2010 at 1:59 am
More then coral and more then one person.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:49 pm
[...] those shoplifters who nabbed over $1,000 worth of clams and corals from Neptune Aquatics in Milpitas, Calif., the other week? Seems these Darwin Award candidates got [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 6:10 pm