Nathan McClain, former co-owner of the Zany Zoo Pet Store in Oregon, was arrested Thursday after investigators deduced that the man paid a sex worker money from a Girl Scout cookie jar and gave an exotic primate as a tip.
That's right. After stealing some well-donated money from a jar, the man promptly decided to give the prostitute a very generous tip, a Galago, better known as a bush baby, which is valued in the market at about $2,500.
The odd case started back in early March when Abbie McClain, co-owner of the Zany Zoo and wife to the suspect, reported to the police that the pet shop was missing a number of very valuable items. During her initial report, she listed store funds amounting to $7,000, a laptop computer and, of course, the exotic Galago monkey named Gooey.
Investigators were eventually able to find Gooey on March 17 in the care of a woman at a local hotel, who turned out to be the prostitute that McClain hired. The woman admitted that she was indeed given the Galago as a tip and that she was an out-of-state prostitute who had visited the suspect.
After submitting her statements, the sex worker, who remains unnamed, was kind enough to surrender Gooey to the authorities. Gooey is currently being taken care of in a sanctuary until such time that the little primate could be returned to the Zany Zoo Pet Store.
The suspect was arrested on March 19 after he was seen leaving an adult store. During that time, police stated that McClain appeared like he was under the influence of methamphetamine. Eventually, he was interrogated again on March 21. Police officers also remarked during his second interrogation that he looked and acted like he was under the influence of meth.
Despite the case against him being pretty much clear-cut, McClain's arrest only happened on Thursday. Detective Rick Lowe noted that the delay in his arrest was allowed in order to give the pet shop a chance to move locations.
"Out of respect for the store, I delayed the arrest date until yesterday," Lowe said.
Considering that McClain had been taken in by the police twice last month, Lowe stated that his arrest on Thursday came as no surprise to his wife.
Now that the notorious tipper is behind bars, his wife has taken it upon herself to remove all of his association to the family's business. Abbie stated in an announcement on the store's Facebook Page that she and her children have suffered as a result of her husband's actions and that she would be removing her husband's name from all business and bank accounts.
"Nathan McClain will have no further association with Zany Zoo. Nathan's potential wrongdoing has no bearing on our ability to care for our animals and customers," she wrote.
