LONG BEACH, Calif. — A cold-blooded crime was solved after California police found two exotic lizards that had been stolen from a reptile store last year, authorities said.
Two Australian lace monitors -- reptiles that can grow to more than 6 feet in length -- were recovered Friday and two people were in custody, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“As far as I know, the lizards were A-OK,” Brandon Fahey, a spokesperson for the Long Beach Police Department, told the newspaper. “We lucked out there.”
Most robbery cases involving retail items don’t come with literal tails but in this case, they do! Detectives recently recovered 2 lizards worth over $75,000 that were stolen in a 2019 robbery. The lizards were reunited w/ their owner, & 2 suspects were arrested on felony charges pic.twitter.com/UdnkPEBuQ4
— Long Beach PD (CA) (@LBPD) October 16, 2020
On Nov. 29, three people walked into JTK Reptiles in Long Beach and broke into cages containing the reptiles, the Long Beach Post reported. The thieves escaped in a car with the monitors, which were valued together at $75,000, the newspaper reported.
Police got a break in the case on Sept. 23, tracking the lizards to a home in Panorama City. They arrested Jose Luis Macias Jr., 30, and Kassandra Marie Duenas, 27, who were in the house at the time, the Times reported.
Both were charged with second-degree robbery and were released after posting $50,000 bail, Fahey told the newspaper.
The lizards were returned to the reptile shop by animal control officials, Fahey said.
Fahey said Macias and Duenas “seem to be knowledgeable about lizards and lizard value and lizard selling,” the Times reported.
Cox Media Group
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