News

Actions

Man gets prison for stealing lemur from California zoo

Posted
and last updated

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A man who admitted stealing a ring-tailed lemur from a Southern California zoo has been sentenced to three months in federal prison.

Aquinas Kasbar of Newport Beach on Monday was also ordered to pay more than $8,000 in restitution to the Santa Ana Zoo. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty in July to one misdemeanor count of unlawfully taking an endangered species.

In a plea agreement, Kasbar acknowledged that he broke into the zoo, cut a hole in an enclosure and took 32-year-old Isaac, the oldest captive ring-tailed lemur in North America.

The animal was placed in a container with no ventilation and later abandoned at a hotel with notes identifying it as having been taken from the zoo.

It was returned unharmed.

Ring-tailed lemurs are native to Madagascar and among the 25 most endangered primates.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)