Exotic snakes stolen during shipping

This is something many of us have wondered when it would start happening. I'm afraid this might not be the last time either.
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(03-13) 10:58 PST SANTA CRUZ -- Five snakes valued at a total of $10,000 were stolen en route from a reptile dealer to customers in other states, Santa Cruz County sheriff's officials said today.

One snake, a super pastel ball python valued at $7,000, was headed to a customer in Kansas who instead received an empty box. Four female pythons valued at a total of $3,000 were shipped to a customer in Georgia but never arrived, Sgt. Fred Plageman said.

The thefts occurred over the past two months.

The snakes were bought from Santa Cruz Reptiles, which advertises a specialty in ball python morphs, rosy boas and albino bull snakes.

The store owner could not be reached for comment this morning.

Plageman said the owner had established a long history of trouble-free shipping through the United Parcel Service directly, but recently, he tried sending the snakes through a shipping store that services UPS and other vendors.

"We'll be looking into how they were shipped and by whom," Plageman said. "I think this is somewhat unusual. But anything that has value is going to be stolen by thieves."

Link

There's actually a BOI thread started in January that appears to be related to this. I didn't notice it first time around, but it's popped back up. Maybe someone reading this post has resurrected it.

I didn't realize the story was that old. I assumed since the article was dated yesterday that it just happened.
I did skim the thread, about 4 pages of the 26. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.