Dallas zoo monkey theft suspect says he will steal again if released – police
A 24-year-old man linked to an unusual string of crimes at the Dallas zoo told police that after he stole two monkeys he took them on to the city’s light rail system to make his getaway, court records show. Davion Irvin also said he loves animals and will steal more if released.
Irvin, who remains jailed on $25,000 bond, was arrested last week after asking questions at a Dallas aquarium. He is charged with six counts of animal cruelty and two counts of burglary. An attorney did not comment.
Irvin told police that on the night of 29 January he waited until dark, jumped a fence, cut the mesh of an enclosure and took the two emperor tamarin monkeys, according to arrest affidavits. He then got on the light rail before walking to the vacant home where he said he kept his animals.
Acting on a tip, police found the monkeys, named Bella and Finn, on 31 January, the day after they were discovered missing, at the empty home in Lancaster, a suburb about 15 miles south of the zoo.
Multiple cats and pigeons were also in the home, in addition to dead feeder fish and fish food that had disappeared from a staff-only area of the zoo earlier in January but wasn’t reported stolen.
Irvin has been charged in two odd events over a span of several weeks at the zoo and is linked to another, police said.
Regarding the monkeys, Irvin faces one count of burglary and six counts of animal cruelty, three for each monkey. He faces a burglary charge in relation to the escape of a clouded leopard named Nova, which was discovered missing on 13 January. A cut was found in the enclosure and the zoo closed. The leopard was found later that day.
Irvin told investigators he wanted to take the cat but was only able to pet it before it got on top of the enclosure, an affidavit said.
Police said they had linked Irvin to the cutting of an enclosure for langur monkeys, discovered after Nova went missing, but he had not been charged in that. None of those monkeys escaped.
In the days leading up to the emperor tamarin monkeys being taken, a man raised suspicions at the zoo, asking questions about moving and caring for such monkeys and about the clouded leopard, an affidavit said. The man was also seen entering staff buildings near the monkeys’ enclosure.
After the monkeys were discovered missing on 30 January, police released a photo and video of a man they wanted to talk to. The images prompted the tip that led police to where the monkeys were found. An affidavit said the tip came from a caller who said attendees of a church recognized the man as someone who frequented a vacant home owned by the church.
Police arrested Irvin on Thursday, a few blocks from the Dallas World Aquarium after he asked questions about animals and a worker recognized him.
Police were still investigating but Irvin had not been linked to the suspicious death of an endangered vulture at the zoo in January.
Meanwhile police in Louisiana announced the arrest on Tuesday of a 61year-old man in the case of 12 squirrel monkeys discovered missing on 29 January from their enclosure at Zoosiana in Broussard, about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge. Police said the monkeys had not yet been found.