Freckles has been found.
Miami Beach detectives have busted a bird thief who stole an African Gray parrot from an apartment and then tried to sell it to a local pet store, officials said Thursday.
Jesus Anthony Jimenez, 27, was arrested and charged with dealing in stolen property after he was seen by a Miami Beach cop flying the coop with the pilfered parrot.
On April 19, Jimenez ran out of an apartment complex with the bird in a cage and jumped into a waiting car. The car sped off and ran a stop sign right in front of a patrolling cop, officials said.
The cop wrote a ticket and sent Jimenez on his way, but a short time a later, flyers for the missing bird, named Freckles, popped up in the precinct.
Jimenez was quickly tracked down and sang like a canary when questioned about the bird. He told police that he sold the bird to a pet store in Miami named La Jungla for $275 and that he knew it was stolen.
Freckles was retrieved from the store and returned to his owner.
