An Apparent Shark Heist Ends With The Police Recovering A Two-Foot Shark For The San Antonio Aquarium

Programming note: our resident heist expert Brian Grubb is on a well-deserved vacation this week, so Stacey Ritzen is covering this important news in his absence.

Texas authorities have recovered a two foot long gray horn shark named “Ms. Helen” that was taken from an exhibit at the San Antonio Aquarium on Saturday afternoon. One of the three suspects reached right into the tank, as you can see in the above surveillance video, then carried it right out and placed it into a baby stroller, which they used the smuggle the shark out of the aquarium.

General manager Jen Spellman happened to notice the stroller leaking water — which definitely seems bad when you’re the manager of an aquarium — and followed the suspects out to their car. When she asked if she could search the vehicle, they took off, and then she was conveniently able to provide their license plate number to police.

Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said at the time that the heist was not random and that it was clearly someone who knows about sharks and knew what and why they were doing it. Via USA Today:

“Once they took [the shark] out, they put it in some kind of blanket and went into a secure area of the building. The blanket was wet. You could still see the water running off it… Employees witnessed the actual fact inside the employee area, and an employee followed them out and tried to get to look into the stroller that was dripping water. [The suspects] didn’t stop, and they left,” Salvaggio said.

Thankfully, the shark was found unharmed and two of the three suspects have since confessed to police. Apparently they were trying to sell the animal on Facebook, which should tell you everything you need to know about these criminal masterminds.

In the meantime, aquarium staff is just happy to have the Ms. Helen back, and are currently keeping her in quarantine to see how she does.

(Via ABC 13 in Houston & USA Today)