Overview
- Security footage shows two intruders around 2:50–3:00 a.m. on May 25 fishing a roughly 55-inch tarpon from a private lagoon, posing with it out of the water, and returning it before staff found it dead the next morning.
- The suspects are identified as Derrick Lee Vivian, 25, of Fort Myers, arrested in November, and Christopher Jeffrey Smith, 20, of Marathon, taken into custody Wednesday.
- Both men are charged with burglary and illegally removing a tarpon over 40 inches from the water, with bond set at $27,000 each.
- Under Florida law, the tarpon-removal charge is a misdemeanor punishable for first-time offenders by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
- The arrest report lists the fish’s value at $7,100, and the sheriff’s office says no intoxication tests were conducted due to the delay in identifying the suspects.