After being granted his five minutes of local fame a few months ago for being the self-proclaimed "rattlesnake whisperer," Steven Salamone has received the rare sixth minute of fame -- because he's accused of stealing a bike.
Salamone was featured in a Fox 10 segment in April because he caught a rattlesnake with his bare hands in Scottsdale, and referred to himself as the "rattlesnake whisperer."
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Salamone also stole a motorized bike worth more than $2,500 from the Tommy Bahama store at the Kierland Commons on July 18.
Salamone -- who works as a window washer when he's not telling secrets to rattlesnakes -- put the bike on a pair of classifieds websites for $1,000, and a Phoenix police detective responded to one of them earlier this week.
Sure enough, police found that Salamone was the guy selling the bike, which he claimed he got from someone who owed him money for window-washing services.
Police called that guy to check out the story, and Salamone apparently owed him money, according to the documents.
The store manager at Tommy Bahama said Salamone sure looked like the guy who was captured on video taking the bike, and a witness to the theft picked Salamone's photo out of a lineup, according to the documents.
Fox 10 doesn't have the original video of the "rattlesnake whisperer" on its website, but did include a clip from it in the segment on his arrest:
Salamone faces charges of theft and trafficking in stolen property.
