Stolen swans Sterling and Luna were found and returned to the Highland Village Mobile Home Park pond on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025.
Stolen swans Sterling and Luna were found and returned to the Highland Village Mobile Home Park pond on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. | Polk County Sheriff's Office
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Sterling and Luna are once again happily paddling around the lake of Highland Village Mobile Home Park after the Polk County Sheriff’s Office’s Agricultural Crimes Unit found the swiped swans in a Miami-Dade County neighborhood.

Now the Ag Unit detectives are searching for two swan-stealing suspects.

Residents of the Highland Village Mobile Home Park hug Polk County Sheriff's Agricultural Unit detectives, who retrieved the community's stolen swans.
Residents of the Highland Village Mobile Home Park hug Polk County Sheriff’s Agricultural Unit detectives, who retrieved the community’s stolen swans. | Polk County Sheriff's Office

The crime: Detectives say on the night of Wednesday, Feb. 12, two men entered Highland Park Mobile Home Village, a gated, 55-plus community on West Brannen Road in South Lakeland, and used nets to capture the community’s two black swans.

They also grabbed six eggs the pair was tending in a nesting box.

Suspects: PCSO agricultural detectives identified the purloining perpetrators as:

Alfredo Casanova, 29, of Homestead, Florida –– previously convicted of grand theft and other charges out of Monroe County, who spent more than two years in state prison.

Jordan Montoya, 27, also of Homestead.

They both have arrest warrants for felony burglary and grand theft for the swan-stealing.

Sterling is worth about $3,200, while Luna is valued at $3,000 and the eggs at $1,500 apiece.

Tip leads to swans: PCSO officials said a concerned citizen provided a tip, leading to Luna, Sterling, and their six eggs being found.

The Ag detectives traveled to South Florida to retrieve the missing mates on Monday and brought them home.

“My sincere thanks to this member of the community for doing the right thing by reaching out to us upon discovering they had been stolen,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press release Monday.

“We couldn’t accomplish these good outcomes without the support of outstanding citizens.”

According to WSVN, a man in Miami’s Cutler Ridge area said he was contacted by someone, asking if they could drop off Sterling, Luna, the eggs and three other black swans stolen out of Pompano Beach. He agreed, but said he told the person to stay away from him and his family and to stop stealing swans.

Tips: Anyone with information on Casanova’s and Montoya’s whereabouts can contact PCSO Ag detectives at 863-534-7205. Tips can be emailed to tips@polksheriff.org.

If you have information and wish to remain anonymous, contact Heartland Crime Stoppers in one of four ways:

  • CALL 1-888-400-TIPS (8477)
  • DIAL **TIPS from your cell phone
  • VISIT the website www.heartlandcrimestoppers.com and click on “Submit A Tip”
  • DOWNLOAD the free “P3tips” app on your smartphone or tablet

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Kimberly C. Moore, who grew up in Lakeland, has been a print, broadcast and multimedia journalist for more than 30 years. Before coming to LkldNow in the spring of 2022, she was a reporter for four years with The Ledger, first covering Lakeland City Hall and then Polk County schools. She is the author of “Star Crossed: The Story of Astronaut Lisa Nowak," published by University Press of Florida. Reach her at kimberly@lkldnow.com or 863-272-9250.

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