Only in Florida: couple steals rare books, vintage comics, AND endangered tortoises.
It’s no wonder that book theft is on the rise in Florida, seeing as how Governor Ron DeSantis seems hellbent on making reading as hard as possible. So is anyone surprised a Florida couple (composed of a Florida Man and a Florida Woman) recently made off with some rare books, valuable comics, AND a few endangered tortoises?
According to Tampa’s News Channel 8
Joshua McCarty-Thomas and his wife Dashae McCarty-Thomas are accused of stealing endangered tortoises from a St. Augustine zoo. They’re also accused of stealing prized books from St. Petersburg and expensive comic books from Ocala and Indiana.
A police report shows dozens of stolen comic books belong to the Hall of Heroes Museum in Indiana. The owner found the comic books on eBay and bought them from the site. The stolen books were shipped from the couple’s home in St. Petersburg.
No word on the fate of the endangered tortoises, but I gotta say that’s pretty low. The real hero of this story, though, isn’t a cop or a detective, it’s comic book guy Dino Leto, who told reporters:
When a comic book goes missing everyone finds out about it. There were some pretty substantial Golden Age books stolen that’s worth tens of thousands of dollars if not more. This is a very substantial theft.”
He probably visited the museum and did a case job. That’s classic crime 101. Any Batman villain would do that before they executed the action. Given time good will triumph in the end.
When asked which Batman villain most closely resembles Governor DeSantis, Mr. Leto gazed off in stoic resolve toward the penguin enclosure.
