Food delivery driver plucks poodle from yard, holds it for ransom, Arkansas police say
Police in Little Rock, Arkansas, are on the lookout for a suspect who they say nabbed a miniature poodle out of a front yard last week.
Jeremy Shapley said that he let his dog Vino out of his home for 15 minutes on Sept. 11 and when he went to retrieve the dog, he was gone, ABC 7 reported.
According to Shapley, a neighbor had doorbell footage of the kidnapping, which showed a food delivery person delivering a pizza in the neighborhood while a second person got out of the delivery car and nabbed the dog from Shapley’s yard, ABC 7 reported.
Police tracked down Vino and reunited him with Shapley on Sept. 18, but the dog had noticeable injuries. Officials are looking for a suspect named Tyler Brown, and the investigation is ongoing. Vino is being treated for a broken leg and other injuries, the department reported.
Delivery drivers making off with pets is not unheard of. In 2019, an Amazon driver was accused of stealing a couple’s dog in Texas and trying to sell it on Craigslist for $100, officials said. The dog was reunited with its owners days later, Business Insider reported.