Teen Admits to Stealing Isaac the Lemur From a California Zoo

Federal prosecutors say a man has agreed to plead guilty to stealing a ring-tailed lemur from a Southern California zoo, the AP reports. The US attorney's office says in a news release that 19-year-old Aquinas Kasbar of Newport Beach agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of unlawfully taking an endangered species. According to a plea agreement filed Monday, prosecutors say Kasbar broke into the Santa Ana Zoo after hours on July 27, 2018, cut open an enclosure using bolt cutters, and took a 32-year-old lemur named Isaac—the oldest ring-tailed lemur in US captivity, per CNN.

The animal was placed in a hotel drawer with no ventilation and later abandoned at a Newport Beach hotel with notes including one that identified the animal as "Lemur (with tracker)" and another that said, "This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo it was taken last night please bring it to police." Media reported that Isaac wasn't hurt and was returned home. Kasbar faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. (More weird crimes stories.)