Man charged in theft of over $10,000 worth of birds from Lake Worth Beach home
A man suspected of stealing 69 birds from a home in Lake Worth Beach was arrested Saturday, drawing attention to himself by throwing evidence tied to the crimes away in a trash can, police said.
Damian Ramallo, 44, is accused of burglarizing a home shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday and taking 30 adult and baby cockatoos, four parakeets, 15 canaries and 20 pigeons from their cages, Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. The birds were worth more than $10,000.
The bird owner’s relative called the woman to tell her that her security cameras recorded someone at her home. The person on the security video came twice within an hour wearing different clothes, the Sheriff’s Office said.
His first outfit was a dark hat, a camouflaged face covering and a blue hoodie with “Sí, pero café con leche primero” written in white on the back. He carried a large knife on his hip, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the man returned wearing a camouflaged jacket instead and no face covering.
Ramallo was booked into the Palm Beach County jail Saturday on charges of armed burglary and grand theft, court records show.
Only “a few” of the birds were recovered, Barbera said in an email Monday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Office’s investigation is ongoing. The Sheriff’s Office has not released additional details.
Ramallo has a second open felony theft case in Palm Beach County stemming from an incident on June 25, three days before the alleged burglary of the Lake Worth Beach home. Details of that case were not immediately available Monday afternoon.
Ramallo has been arrested several times in recent years on felony offenses, court records show. He has spent time incarcerated in state prison on various charges over the years, including aggravated assault, grand theft, burglary and attempted burglary and drug-related charges, Department of Corrections records show.
