What really happened to those stolen Insectarium bugs?

Were you intrigued back in August 2018, when reports surfaced that some 7,000 living bugs were taken from the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion, 8046 Frankford Ave. in Holmesburg?

Then you’ll be fascinated by Bug Out, a four-part docuseries you can watch beginning on Friday, March 4, on IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service.

The Times has watched all four parts, and the series features numerous twists and turns.

To refresh everyone’s memory, the “buglary” became big news nationally, with the loss estimated at $50,000. Northeast Detectives, working with a private investigator, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife began investigations.

Early on, the story went that disgruntled employees took the bugs, presumably to sell on the black market. Video evidence, labeled a smoking gun, supposedly showed the employees carrying out the bugs in covered bins. Yet, no one was arrested.

Bug Out director Ben Feldman became interested in the story, and worked with executive producers Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro. The Cinemart is the production company.

“There’s got to be more to that story,” Feldman said to himself.

A trailer can be found at IMDb.com.

Feldman, of Fairmount, said filming wrapped in July 2021, adding that getting the series picked up by IMDb TV was “beyond my wildest dreams.” He promises viewers a thorough look at the case, even going outside the United States to look at the international bug market.

“No rock was unturned,” he said. “This story has legs, no pun intended. This is a whodunit, a mystery. It’s really entertaining on multiple fronts. It’s a thrilling show to watch.”

Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum and Detective Michael Zanetich play big roles in the series, with Feldman saying it was a “big win” to have them walk him through the investigation.

Another big win was getting all the major players – from Insectarium founder Steve Kanya to current CEO John Cambridge to director of operations Chrissy Rzepnicki – to open up, sometimes emotionally.

“I’m just super proud that everyone wanted to tell their story,” Feldman said.

Each of the four episodes is about 35 to 37 minutes in length.

The first episode reveals that Kanya opened the Insectarium in 1992 at the site of Steve’s Bug-Off, an exterminating company he founded in 1975. He later became business partners with Cambridge, but they had a falling out, and civil litigation gave Cambridge the museum. Kanya said partnering with Cambridge was the “biggest mistake in my entire life.” Cambridge called Kanya a “tremendous ding-a-ling.”

Soon after the supposed heist, the series shows sympathy for the Insectarium – a GoFundMe page raised a lot of money, and Orkin pest control company donated $10,000.

Viewers will learn that there were conflicts between management and staff. Cambridge calls the animal care department the museum’s “problem child.”

Everyone is a suspect – Kanya, Cambridge, Rzepnicki, all employees and the former head of the animal care department.

In the end, viewers will have a good idea whether employees stole thousands of valuable bugs – or if there’s more to the story. ••