HATTIESBURG, Miss.- The suspect involved in the death of the two Chilean flamingos from the Hattiesburg zoo appeared in front of a Forrest County Grand Jury Friday. 19-year-old Devin Nottis was indicted on two charges, grand larceny and conspiracy.
Nottis was originally booked back in October on two counts of animal cruelty, trespassing and grand larceny, totaling up to $17,300 in bonds. The indictment confirmed that he did in fact steal the flamingo, valued at over $1,000, as well as conspired with others to commit grand larceny.
The story behind the crime was that the students were part of a fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi, and were in fact pledges. They were given a scavenger hunt to complete, and in the scavenger hunt was the idea of taking a picture of one of the flamingos. Nottis instead decided to take the flamingo out of the zoo, where it eventually died. It’s mate later died as well.
The University student affairs office stated shortly after that Nottis, and the Delta Mu Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity were both suspended from USM.
