FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – State wildlife officers arrested a Fort Lauderdale man Wednesday after they said witnesses saw him digging through a loggerhead sea turtle nest, grabbing the new hatchlings and throwing them into the water.
Anthony Joseph Mastrippolito, who has a series of felony convictions — mostly drug-related — in Broward County, is now facing new criminal charges.
Recommended Videos
According to an arrest report, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers were sent to the area of State Road A1A and Seville Street on Fort Lauderdale Beach at around 11:15 Wednesday morning after receiving a report of a “possible disturbed sea turtle’s nest.”
Authorities said a marine biologist had confronted Mastrippolito, 44, and told him to stop touching the hatchlings, but he continued to do so.
Another witness took pictures of the illegal act, authorities said.
Sea turtles are considered endangered and state laws prohibit the “take, possession, disturbance, mutilation, destruction, selling, transference, molestation and harassment of marine turtles, nests or eggs.”
The report states that Mastrippolito resisted FWC officers’ attempt to arrest him and damaged the interior of a patrol cruiser once he was placed inside.
Authorities said they also found a series of drugs and drug paraphernalia in his possession.
Mastrippolito, facing two counts of destroying, selling or molesting sea turtles, eggs, or nests, along with charges of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia, was being held in the Broward Main Jail as of Thursday.
According to jail records, he was being held without bond because he was on probation for burglary and methamphetamine possession at the time of his arrest.