Jermaine Wofford, 47, was allegedly spotted on surveillance footage taking up to 18 rare turtles from Turtle Source in Estero, FL.
Owner Marcus Cantos told Wink News, more than a dozen turtles were missing. Cantos said he had called the repairman to his store to fix a fridge. The turtle breeder said he noticed some turtles were missing after the first time Wofford came to the store, but didn’t immediately make the connection. He checked store cameras, and saw Wofford allegedly removing the turtles.
Mr Wofford claimed he had needed to pick up parts, and when he returned to the store, he was arrested by Lee County Sheriff’s deputies. “The camera is right up here, not hard to see, and the guy looked right in the camera, and that’s how the sheriff’s department was able to use the facial recognition, and he was just helping himself to all of these,” Mr Cantos told Wink News.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies were able to recover five of the 18 stolen turtles from a house in Hillsborough County.
Mr Wofford is in custody on a $50,000 bond.