JUPITER, Fla. (CBS12) — Investigators have quite a story about cracking the case of two stolen black dragons, and at this time, they’ve only been able to recover one of them.
Black dragons are also known as Asian water monitors and they’re large lizards.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office says Kenan Harkin of Jupiter reported the two exotic reptiles missing on Jan. 6. Harkin owns an exotic animal education-rescue facility known as Kamp Kenan. It’s also his family’s home. The two-and-a-half-acre property is surrounded by fencing and electric wiring.
The arrest report shows Harkin found open doors to his exotic reptile cages, and two black dragons were missing. They were young, one male and one female. Each is worth $2,500 to $3,000.
Authorities said Harkin spoke to other reptile breeders who’d also had animals stolen over the past several months. One, from Charlotte County, gave him the name De’Angelo Moxey.
Harkin also told police a neighbor saw a small white SUV stuck in mud just east of his facility at about 6 a.m.
The next day, investigators found Moxey’s mother — about 120 miles to the south, in Florida City — owns that SUV and that it had been driven through two license plate reader cameras in Jupiter, hours before Harkin reported the theft.
That afternoon, Harkin told an investigator heading down to Moxey’s home there were boxes and other property left where the SUV had been stuck. Another deputy emailed pictures of the mess just before the investigator arrived.
At the same time, the investigator learned Moxey’s mother had reported her SUV stolen on the morning of the theft, but then found out De’Angelo, 18, had taken it.
According to the affidavit,
At approximately 6 a.m., he contacted his sister indicating that he needed gas money to get back home in his mother's vehicle.
he Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office got to the home, along with officers from Florida Fish & Wildlife and the Florida City Police Department. The mother was on her way home, but De’Angelo and his siblings were there. Authorities told him they needed to recover the stolen black dragons, and they knew he was in the area around the time of the theft.
Investigators said he admitted being in the area with the SUV but denied stealing the black dragons. Then, a deputy showed him the picture of the SUV stuck in the mud with the boxes nearby, and he said he tried to use the boxes to free the SUV, but that didn’t work. The same deputy said Moxey also told authorities he didn’t have the black dragons.
When his mother arrived, authorities explained what was going on and she invited them to search for the black dragons. Then, she
loudly announced to all of the law enforcement officers present and her other children within the residence that she did not want the lizards in her house and for everyone to start looking for them.
One of Moxey’s sisters found a container under the kitchen sink with one of the lizards inside. It was the female, and she appeared to be more than two feet long.
Moxey explained that an “unknown person” in the area where he was stuck in the mud gave it to him, and any information on the other person was deleted from his phone. He claimed he was in a private Facebook group that discussed the two stolen animals, and
he was asked to participate because he has done this in the past, and was known for the last one.
He said he agreed to drive up
to help with the theft and for doing so, he got the one monitor just found in his residence for free.
But he said he didn’t have the other one — the male — and that he removed the first from the cage in his bedroom because he knew why the police knocked on the door.
Deputies also said his mother “immediately identified” one of the boxes in the picture came from the back of her SUV.
Harkin received the black dragon — named Inky — back that same day.
On Monday, authorities charged Moxey with burglary and traveling across county lines, and grand theft.
He’s still being held in lieu of $25,000 bond.
The sheriff's office told CBS12 News deputies are investigating other possible suspects.