Piper the parrot went missing. A Keys man is now in jail and accused of animal cruelty
A 40-year-old Florida Keys man was arrested Tuesday after deputies said he stole his roommate’s pet parrot and paraded it around on his shoulder, only to leave it at a bus stop suffering from multiple broken bones.
Justin David Peters, known by the nickname Redbeard, was charged with felony grand theft and misdemeanor animal cruelty for taking the eclectus parrot, worth $1,800, and leaving it seriously battered.
On Tuesday evening, Peters, who is listed as a handyman, was locked up at the county jail on Stock Island. His bond is $30,000. It was unclear whether he had legal representation.
Piper the parrot is back home and recovering from injuries that include a dislocated hip, blunt force trauma to one side of its body and multiple broken bones, according to Adam Linhardt, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Piper may never fully recover from its wounds, the owner told deputies.
“She said the bird sustained some lifelong injuries,” Linhardt said.
While the arrest was made Tuesday, the crime took place over the course of a day or two in June in the Lower Keys,
On June 13, a business owner noticed a man — later identified as Peters — with a red parrot at a nearby bus stop on Summerland Key.
Later, when the business owner looked at the bus stop again, the parrot was alone on the bench. He took in the bird, called the sheriff’s office and tried to find the parrot’s owner.
People at a restaurant and gas station in the area also reported seeing the same man with the same red parrot. The bird “appeared to be stressed and agitated,” Linhardt said.
One person urged Peters to return the bird to its cage because it looked distressed, Linhardt said.
Security camera footage shows Peters was at those businesses.
The next day, Piper’s owner, a 37-year-old woman, told deputies Peters stole her pet bird from their shared home, after she had repeatedly instructed him to leave the bird alone.
Peters did not have permission to take Piper out of its cage, let alone take it out in public with it perched on his shoulder.
Eclectus parrots are popular pets, known for their vibrant colors and gentle nature. A medium-sized parrot that can live for 20 to 30 years in captivity, the females are a deep red with a violet-blue belly while the males are mostly bright green.
Peters has a prior criminal case in Monroe County.
In October 2021, Peters pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and property damage, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced to 14 days, time served, and ordered to pay a total of $618 to cover a $100 fine plus court costs and fees.
On Sept. 1, 2021, Peters was arrested after being found lying in the street of a neighborhood near mile marker 25 at 9:45 p.m., according to the arrest report. Peters, who deputies said was shirtless and appeared to be “under the influence,” also destroyed a mailbox.
On his application for a public defender at that time, he reported he had no income. Peters’ Facebook page says he is from Royal Oak, Michigan, and works for an air conditioning company.
He also says he has lived on Summerland since 2018, but that from 2020 to 2021 he worked as a bar manager in Kenneth City, Florida, in southern Pinellas County, and then St. Petersburg, before taking a job in the Keys in April 2021.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 7:18 PM.
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