ABCNews.com(SAN ANTONIO) — Floor-to-ceiling tanks filled with exotic marine animals greeted stunned police officers who stepped into the house of a man arrested for stealing a shark from a local aquarium — using a stroller.
“His whole house is full of tanks. Not what you would consider regular fish tanks, I’m talking floor-to-ceiling tanks. One was a 6,000 gallon tank, one was a 2,000 gallon tank,” said Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio. “It was just a lot of fish.”
The man, along with two others, apparently tried to disguise the shark as a baby to remove it from the aquarium. The theft was caught on video, which showed the animal being scooped up from an open tank, taken to a restroom and packed inside a wet blanket before being stuffed into a stroller.
The three people confessed to stealing the horn shark after the video of their bizarre theft was posted by the San Antonio Aquarium.
The man who reached into the tank and pulled out the shark, as seen in the video, was arrested. Police said he is a plumber with a penchant for all things piscine.
“He’s just a fish guy,” Salvaggio told ABC News.
The two others involved were his wife and his neighbor, both of whom were charged Tuesday with felony theft for an amount anywhere between $2,500 and $30,000.
Law enforcement is working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to investigate where the other marine animals in the man’s home tanks came from.
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