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Got crack? Got Monkey?

Admitted monkey thief sentenced to prison
Animal was stolen from fair zoo
Nita Birmingham / The Times
Posted on February 27, 2002

A man who admitted stealing a monkey from a Louisiana State Fair 
exhibit last year and trading her for crack cocaine and marijuana has 
been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.

Robert Bradford Mills, 34, of Las Vegas, Nev., withdrew his former 
plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to felony theft. Caddo District 
Court Judge Eugene Bryson Jr. sentenced Mills on Monday.

The sentence was due in part to Mills' lengthy criminal history and 
the fact that the African spot-nosed guenon he stole is an endangered 
species, Assistant District Attorney Alex Washington said. Mills' 
record shows numerous previous arrests in Florida for property 
crimes, battery and drugs.

Gwendolyn, the 5-year-old monkey, was stolen Oct. 30. She was located 
two days later at a still undisclosed location after a confidential 
informant contacted a Shreveport police detective with information on 
her whereabouts in exchange for a $1,000 reward offered by the owner.

Mills was arrested at the fair, where he was working for an 
independent contractor in the zoo area. When Mills was transferred to 
Caddo Correctional Center, booking notes stated he sold the $7,000 
monkey for $2,000 in illegal narcotics.

Mills gave detectives several versions of how he came in possession 
of the monkey, according to court documents.

Mills at one time told detectives he had gone to a house on Alabama 
Avenue to buy narcotics and had seen the monkey through a window, but 
that didn't pan out. He also said three men stole the monkey and 
brought it to him to sell, which he did on Alabama Avenue for $3,000. 
Mills claimed he received $2,000 immediately and was to return in a 
couple of days for the balance.

Another version had one man asking Mills if he could get the monkey 
out of the fenced-in area. Mills said he got $200 and crack cocaine 
for the monkey.


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