{"id":366420,"date":"2026-08-08T19:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366420\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:58:31","slug":"2-beachfront-business-owners-accused-of-scattering-mothballs-on-st-pete-beach-to-deter-birds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366420\/","title":{"rendered":"2 beachfront business owners accused of scattering mothballs on St. Pete Beach to deter birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA \u2014 Florida wildlife officials on Wednesday arrested two beachfront business owners on charges that they scattered hundreds of toxic mothballs<\/a> across St. Pete Beach in April near a colony of protected black skimmers. <\/p>\n

Robert Czyszczon, 47, and Christopher Monroe, 52, were arrested Wednesday morning on a felony charge of \u201ccommercial littering\u201d and a misdemeanor charge of \u201cattempted take of a state listed imperiled species by harassment,\u201d according to Maj. Evan Laskowski, the Southwest Regional Commander of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. <\/p>\n

Laskowski spoke Wednesday at a news conference in Tampa announcing the arrest of the two men after a monthslong investigation. <\/p>\n

According to Laskowski, wildlife investigators received a report on April 20 of about 1,000 mothballs scattered across St. Pete beach behind the Plaza Beach Hotel. The following day the agency received another report, and another 500 mothballs were found in the same spot. <\/p>\n

\"RegionalRegional commander Evan Laskowski speaks at a news conference in Tampa Wednesday announcing that two men had been arrested on charges that they scattered mothballs on St. Pete Beach to deter nesting birds. [\u00a0Photo by HANNAH WALLS\/Times\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Czyszczon and Monroe spread the mothballs in a spot where black skimmers, an imperiled shorebird, were establishing a colony, Laskowski said. <\/p>\n

Investigators believe that the men scattered the mothballs to deter the shorebirds from nesting behind the Plaza Beach Hotel, which is owned by Czyszczon. Video surveillance and receipts from a local Walmart showed Czyszczon buying a \u201clarge quantity of mothballs\u201d the day before they appeared on the beach. <\/p>\n

Officials said cellphone tower data showed Czyszczon and Monroe were together on the beach both nights prior to reports of mothballs being found. <\/p>\n

Investigators also found text messages between the men stating that they did not want birds nesting behind the hotel and that they planned to stop the birds from doing so, officials said Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the worst birds, and then the bird people will put up (a) fence around the area,\u201d the texts between the two men read, according to agency Capt. Matt DallaRosa. \u201cAnd then the beach people will not be able to get to-and-from, because they will fence around that space.\u201d <\/p>\n

The texts between the men said they believed they were losing between $25,000 and $50,000 because of the birds on the beach, according to DallaRosa. <\/p>\n

Monroe is the owner and manager of Chris\u2019 Beachside Bar, which is located on the Plaza Beach Hotel property, Laskowski said. Attempts to reach Czyszczon and Monroe through phone numbers listed for the men, including their respective businesses, were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"ChristopherChristopher Monroe was arrested by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Wednesday on charges that he illegally dumped mothballs on St. Pete Beach. [\u00a0The Pinellas County Jail\u00a0]\"RobertRobert Czyszczon was arrested by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Wednesday on charges that he illegally dumped mothballs on St. Pete Beach. [\u00a0The Pinellas County Jail\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mothballs contain high concentrations of chemicals that can poison people and animals exposed to vapors, according to the National Pesticide Information Center. It\u2019s illegal to use mothballs in Florida as wildlife repellants. <\/p>\n

Brian Ferguson, a senior officer with Florida\u2019s wildlife agency who was investigating the incident in April, told the Tampa Bay Times then that he had picked up about 200 moth balls the day of the incident, and volunteers with Audubon Florida also assisted in the cleanup. <\/p>\n

Skimmers are considered a state-designated threatened species, with habitat loss from coastal development as the largest threat to the species. <\/p>\n

There are only about 6,800 skimmers nesting in Florida, and about 10% of the population is in Pinellas County, according to wildlife officials. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese species need extra help in protection to ensure their survival. When people harass or disturb them, it has a direct negative impact on their ability to successfully nest and bring their population numbers back up,\u201d Laskowski said. <\/p>\n

\"AA trash can near the Lido Residences condominiums on St. Pete Beach shows dozens of mothballs in a plastic bag that were cleaned up by beach-goers and Audubon volunteers in April. [\u00a0MAX CHESNES | Times\u00a0]<\/p>\n

When the Times visited St. Pete Beach in April, an acrid smell of mothballs filled the air near Gulf Boulevard. <\/p>\n

The arrests Wednesday were quick to garner widespread outrage across social media. More than a dozen people had already left a one-star review for both beachfront businesses. <\/p>\n

Wrote one reviewer: \u201cPlace smells like mothballs.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida\u2018s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Florida wildlife officials on Wednesday arrested two beachfront business owners on charges that they scattered hundreds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-366420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}