SALINAS, Calif. -- New information, and tonight the question: Is there a serial pet tortoise thief out there?
Possibly!
That's after not one, but two, have been snatched from their homes on the central coast.
And the owners think it all boils down to one thing: Money.
Ernest Griffin-Ortiz said someone took Chibi, a 55-pound African Sulcata tortoise, right out of his outdoor pen.
He said it happened sometime last week at their home near Highway 68 in Salinas.
"Someone had to come in here and pull him out of the box in order to steal him," he said. "We're absolutely sure he was stolen because his space heater and heat lamp were also taken."
Just streets away another man claims his pet tortoise was stolen around the same time similar in size -- about 50 to 80 pounds and about 26 inches in length.
"She's family," said Timothy McLaughlin. "I've had her 12, 15 years."
McLaughlin said Peggy-O was stolen in the front yard of his home.
Griffin-Ortiz said it all boils down to money and knows tortoises are worth around a$1,000 each online and at exotic pet stores
"It's probably been done by someone who considers him nothing but a meal ticket, a potential source of income, but for us he's a lot more than that," he said. "All I want is for Chibi to be returned."
If you know where the tortoises are, you're asked to call the Monterey County Sheriff's Department at: 831-755-3700.
