Man Stole Rare Tortoises, Books, Comics: St. Pete Police

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A St. Petersburg man faces multiple charges for stealing rare tortoises, books and comic books, authorities said.

When serving a search warrant at the home of Joshua McCarty-Thomas, 42, at 2435 10th St. S., detectives found two endangered Galapagos tortoises, according to a St. Petersburg Police Department news release.

One was alive in the yard and the other's carcass was in the freezer. The tortoises were stolen from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park on Nov. 30, 2022, police said. Officials with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission scanned and verified the microchipped tortoises.

The juvenile tortoises are each worth approximately $10,000 each. Once grown, these giant reptiles can reach 600 pounds and live 150 years.

McCarty-Thomas was charged with grand theft by the St. Augustine Police Department with more charges pending, the agency said in a news release.

In St. Petersburg, he faces charges in two commercial burglaries, SPPD said. He stole rare books worth thousands of dollars from Haslam's Book Store, 2025 Central Ave., on Dec. 16, 2022, and from Lighthouse Books, 1735 1st Ave. N., on Oct. 15, 2019.

There's also a warrant for McCarty-Thomas' arrest in the commercial burglary of an Ocala store, where comic books worth thousands of dollars were stolen. Other charges are pending, police said.