Teen who stole endangered lemur from California zoo sentenced to 3 months in prison
The final chapter in the case of the stolen Santa Ana Zoo lemur concluded Monday.
A judge sentenced Aquinas Kasbar, 19, of Newport Beach, to three months in federal prison for stealing Isaac, the oldest ring-tailed lemur in captivity in North America.
Kaspar pleaded guilty in July to unlawfully taking an endangered species, a misdemeanor, and faced up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
He also must pay the Santa Ana Zoo $8,486 in restitution.
Kaspar broke into the Santa Ana Zoo on July 27, 2018, after it had closed for the day. He used bolt cutters to cut a hole in the zoo’s enclosures for lemurs and capuchin monkeys, enabling several of the animals to escape; they were later recovered.
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Kasbar took 33-year-old Isaac to keep as a pet, putting him in a plastic drawer without ventilation holes for the rest of the evening. The next day, he left the lemur in front of a Marriott hotel in Newport Beach and placed two notes on top of the plastic drawer that read: “Lemur (with tracker)” and “This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo it was taken last night please bring it to police.”
Isaac eventually was returned to the zoo unharmed.
Follow Ricardo Lopez on Twitter: @rljourno
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California man steals lemur from Santa Ana Zoo, sentenced to 3 months
