NAVARRE — It must have been a strange sight: a sport utility vehicle with no license tag traveling along U.S. Highway 98 with a large pelican statue hanging from the back end.
It was strange enough for people to notify the Santa Rosa County sheriff’s deputies, who stopped the vehicle and arrested four men for grand theft.
Deputies caught the men Monday at U.S. 98 and Candlewood Drive. The driver, Daniel Joe Fureigh, 43, said he had just purchased the SUV and it wasn’t registered yet.
A deputy called the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and learned the pelican statue had just been stolen from the Sand Shaker Bar on Pensacola Beach. The owner said it was valued at $3,500 and that he wanted to press charges.
Fureigh and the other three suspects were charged in the pelican-napping. They were Michael Cary Duncan, 40; David Allen Darden, 38; and Richard A. Querney, 43. Their addresses were either redacted or not listed on the arrest reports.
The four were taken to the Santa Rosa County Jail, where each was released on $7,500 bond.
The pelican was returned to its owner.
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Four charged with swiping pelican statue
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