SOUTH COAST A Long Island man accused of capturing a tagged and closely monitored great white shark known as Aaron and dragging it onto a Cape Cod beach was arraigned Wednesday in Barnstable Superior Court on animal cruelty and fisheries charges. The court set bail for Christopher Stefanou, 30, of New York, at $10,000.
A Barnstable County grand jury returned indictments against Stefanou for cruelty to animals and violations of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, including illegal shore-based shark fishing, unauthorized possession of a prohibited species, the illegal attracting and capturing of a white shark and the illegal mechanized deployment of bait, Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois said.
Prosecutors said that in October 2025, Stefanou and his crew embarked on a days-long excursion on the eastern shore of Cape Cod with a European client, with the goal of capturing a great white shark. The trip ended with the capture of Aaron the Shark, a great white that had been tagged and closely monitored by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Authorities were alerted to the activity when Stefanou publicly posted video footage of the capture on social media, the district attorney's office said. The footage showed the men using prohibited equipment, including a drone, to capture and drag the shark onto the beach, where they celebrated and photographed themselves with the shark before releasing it, prosecutors said.
Massachusetts regulations prohibit shore-based shark fishing with equipment specifically designed to lure and capture large species of fish, including the prohibited white shark, in most of the waters surrounding Cape Cod. The regulations are designed in large part to protect the public from practices that intentionally lure the prohibited species closer to shore.
Along with bail, the court imposed conditions: Stefanou must surrender his fishing license, remove the video and post no additional videos, stay out of Massachusetts except for legal proceedings, and not fish, boat or use drones in Massachusetts waters. He is also barred from advertising fishing activities in Massachusetts waters and from posting about the case. He is due back in Barnstable Superior Court on Dec. 11.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Emily Nesson Cardia and Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Sweeney, the office's chief of appeals. Galibois credited the Massachusetts Environmental Police with an extensive investigation, with additional help from State Police detectives assigned to the Cape and Islands district attorney's office, the Wellfleet Police Department and Dr. Greg Skomal, a shark expert with the Division of Marine Fisheries.
"DA Galibois acknowledges the vital role that responsible anglers play in ensuring the long-term viability of recreational sport fishing on Cape Cod, while also understanding the need to investigate and prosecute those offenders who go outside the boundaries of well-established regulations and criminal statutes," the district attorney's office said in a statement.
No defense attorney for Stefanou was named in the arraignment record. The district attorney's office reiterates that all defendants are presumed innocent.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from the Cape and Islands DA's Oct. 21, 2026 release, read fresh Oct. 22, 2026. The indictments, charges, bail amount, conditions and Dec. 11 date are stated as the release states them; the Galibois statement is quoted from the release. Allegations are attributed to prosecutors throughout. No defense attorney is named in the record, so the story says so and no comment request could be addressed. Stefanou is an adult named in an official record; the name standard is met.
Corrections
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Sources (2)
- Cape and Islands District Attorney's office, press release, Oct. 21, 2026The official record for every fact in this story: the indictments, the allegations, the shark's identity, the investigation, the bail amount and conditions, and the Dec. 11 date. Read fresh Oct. 22, 2026, about 7:40 a.m. EDT.
- Also reported by: Fall River Reporter.