Police: They stole a shark in a stroller and nearly got away with it

When Leon Valley police got a call over the weekend that someone had stolen a shark from the San Antonio Aquarium, they initially thought it was a hoax. After all, it was Shark Week.

“You’d never think (of ) something like that,” said Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio.

But the theft was no joke. Now, a man accused of stealing the shark has posted bail after authorities say he admitted to the heist.

Antone Shannon, 38, left custody Tuesday afternoon after putting up his $10,000 bail, a representative from the county magistrate’s office said. Shannon faces a state felony charge for theft of property valued at between $2,500 and $30,000, according to documents from the office; Salvaggio said the shark, a gray horn shark named Miss Helen, has been valued at around $3,000 by the aquarium’s owners.

Working with a woman and a second man, Shannon snatched a horn shark out of its tank, wrapped it in a blanket and pushed it out of the aquarium in a baby stroller, according to Salvaggio.

The other two suspects have been identified, Salvaggio added, and have given statements.

The suspects consist of a married couple and a neighbor, although Salvaggio declined to elaborate on who filled what role among the three.

After smuggling out the shark, police say Shannon drove it to his house, where he had a personal aquarium. But authorities tracked down the license plate of the car and contacted its owner — one of the other two suspects — which led them to Shannon, Salvaggio said.

“(Shannon) wasn’t giving up information at that time,” Salvaggio said. “But when we released the information through the media, we got calls and he knew it was done. Once he saw the pictures of himself, he knew we knew and he decided to cooperate.”

Over the phone, officers gave Shannon a choice, Salvaggio said: Let them into the house willingly, or they would get a search warrant. When Shannon chose the former, police went to his house and he took them directly to the shark, Salvaggio added.

After a brief attempt to show the officers a doctored receipt for the shark, Shannon confessed to the theft, according to police.

An arrest warrant was not issued, Salvaggio said — instead, Shannon “was filed on that night ... based on his confession.”

The police currently believe Shannon’s motive was to replace a pet horn shark he’d previously had, which they say Shannon has also said. They noted no evidence of an attempt to sell the shark.

According to online court records, Shannon has a lengthy criminal history in Bexar County. He's been convicted of at least six charges, including vehicle theft, drug possession and evading arrest.