Three suburban individuals has been charged with theft in connection with the thefts of exotic birds -- worth more than $5,000 -- from three suburban pet shops earlier this week.
Erick Zalkus and Viviana B. Rossi, of Gunderson Avenue in Berwyn, and Rebecca F. Cozzi, of 75th Street in Downers Grove, were arrested by Bolingbrook police with felony retail theft. The missing birds, which were found in a home at 3700 Gunderson Avenue in Berwyn, were returned to the assorted pet stores from which they were stolen in good condition.
Besides the birds, Naperville police found four sugar gliders -- small Australian marsupials similar to a flying squirrel -- in the home.
The first of the birds went missing from a Petland store in Wheaton, and a string of retail thefts followed.
Sara Marshinski, sales manager at the Wheaton Petland, said she saw the four walk into the store around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday -- a day after thefts at stores in Naperville and Batavia and long after word of the thefts had made the news.
It appears the first theft happened about 9 p.m. Monday in Bolingbrook at the Petland Aquarium Adventure, at 744 E. Boughton Rd., said Lt. Mike Rompa. But the store's owners didn't realize the bird was missing until they were notified by the Naperville Petland of a theft at their store on Tuesday.
