Hotel owner and beach bar owner accused of placing over 1,000 mothballs on St. Pete Beach: FWC

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC) said it arrested a hotel owner and bar owner accused of placing over 1,500 mothballs on St. Pete Beach in an effort to drive away protected shorebirds.

Robert Czyszczon, 47, owner of the Plaza Beach Hotel, and Christopher Monroe, 52, owner of Chris's Beachside Bar, were arrested on July 29 on felony commercial littering charges and misdemeanor attempted take of a state-listed imperiled species by harassment.

Watch press conference with FWC

The Incident

On April 20, officers with the FWC found over 1,000 mothballs spread across the beach near the Plaza Beach Hotel. The next day, on April 21, 500 more were found in the same area.

According to investigators, the mothballs were placed where black skimmer shorebirds were attempting to establish a nesting colony.

WATCH: Hotel owner and beach bar owner accused of placing over 1,000 mothballs on St. Pete Beach: FWC

Investigation Details

FWC said investigators used receipt records from a local Walmart and found that Czyszczon purchased approximately $60 worth of mothballs the day before they were found on the beach.

Christopher Monroe, whose beachside bar is located right next door to the Plaza Beach Hotel, was also placed on the beach both nights of the incidents.

Text Messages Reveal Motive

FWC said both men exchanged text messages expressing how the black skimmer shorebirds were hurting their business.

"One of the text messages specifically, and I'll read it verbatim, said, quote, 'why didn't you tell me we lose $250,000 to $50,000' and that's in reference to these birds being on the beach," said Matthew Dallarosa of FWC.

Another message stated: "They are the worst birds. And then the bird people will put up a fence around the area and then the beach people will not be able to get to and from because they will fence around."

Dallarosa added, "There was a clear intent that we could tell when it came to deterrence."

Environmental Impact

Mothballs contain harmful pesticides and are illegal to be used outdoors.

Volunteers with the Audubon Society and concerned beachgoers removed the mothballs from the beach before any damage was done to the black skimmer shorebirds nesting in the area. FWC confirmed that no birds were hurt during the investigation.

However, FWC said there are only 1,600 black skimmers in the entire state of Florida, and several hundred nest in Pinellas County (more than 10% of the state population). Harassment delays nesting, pushes breeding season later, and reduces success rates.

Community Reaction

Beachgoers expressed outrage at the arrests.

"These birds are what makes the beach experience," said True Khan, a beachgoer. "I think they thought they would get away with it."

Another beachgoer, Basma Oscar, added, "If you mess with Mother Nature, Mother Nature will come back to you."

Zade, sitting right in front of the suspects' businesses, said, "They need to take their business elsewhere is what needs to be done."