Yesterday, my little French Bulldog puppy, 4 months old, was stolen from my home. I know who took her by what he looks like, but can't confirm a name, I'm sure he gave me a fake name. I was walking my puppy, Delilah Blue, home from the park - we went to enjoy the good weather before this storm hit last night.
On the way home from the park, we encountered "Alexa", a friendly-type "neighbor" who commented how cute Delilah was, and that he had 4 puppies of his own, about 3 months old, available for sale. He named the breed properly and mentioned the colors of the dogs as cream and black. If he said "white" I would have thought about that, since in the Frenchie community, the proper name is "cream". Anyway, we walked and chatted, and he told me that he only lived a few blocks from the park. I said I wanted to see the puppies and wanted to take mine home first. While we walked, he "received" (although I didn't hear the phone ring, thought it might be on vibrate or something) a few phone calls for his "puppies for sale". He went through one or two conversations with people who were calling to come see one of the puppies.
When we got to my house, I went inside, leaving him outside, and put the dog away (took off her leash and sweater), and grabbed my driver's license and wallet, and got ready to drive him to his house nearby to see the puppies. As I was leaving, he asked me if he could use the restroom. I figured it was OK (What An Idiot) and let him in, watching him walk down the hall and saw him coming back out. Before he left, he leaned over to pet my puppy goodbye, who was sitting by the sliding glass door, and must have unlocked the door. Then we left and I locked the house doors, leaving my purse and everything else inside, "safely locked up".
We then drove 1 and a half blocks from my house, and he went down some stairs, I didn't actually see him go inside a residence. A few minutes later, I got a call on my cellphone, from "Alexa", asking me if I had some towels in the car, and that he was just going to be a few more minutes getting the puppies together. At that point, I called my upstairs neighbor to go check on the dog, something just felt really wrong... my neighbor ran down to my apartment (we all have eachother's keys in case of emergencies and he dog-sits for me too)... Emanual told me that the dog was NOT in my house. It had only been a few minutes since I got that cell phone call from "Alexa". I sped back to my house to find my dog stolen, the sliding glass doors had been opened.
"Alexa" told me he was gay, that he performed at "The Baton" and also that he worked in the stock room at Best Buy Ford City. He has shaved eyebrows, his ears are pierced above the lobes, he has men's names tattoo'd on both sides of his neck, a tattoo of the name "Alexii" or "Alexa" on his arm, his pinkee finger has a bad gash in it, and some small dreads tied with blue and white beads that hung out the back of his black knit cap, which he wears to cover his "non-eyebrows". Hispanic/Puerto Rican, about 5'6" or 5'7", chatty, effeminate (maybe to make "girls at ease"), white cell phone, jeans with a "Tiger" embroidered on the back pockets, black jacket.
Now here's what I have done so far:
1. Filed a police report. 2 officers came and got my information. They told me to calm down and that I had to act smart. They sent out a fingerprint expert but he found nothing on the sliding glass doors.
2. Traced the cell phone number on the internet under "People Lookup By Phone Number", since he JUST called me.
3. Went to the 1st address on the list last night just hours after the dog was stolen, and called the police station in the area, who sent out a squad car. Two officers went to the house listed (on 105th S. Ewing) and a couple said that Favian had moved out a long time ago, but they knew his father. The police talked to "his father" on the cellphone and the description of this "Favian" did not match the description of the man I described above.
4. I called my police station this morning to let them know that I had the cellphone number, they said they didn't trace numbers... then I asked if a detective had been assigned to my case and was told that a detective would be assigned tomorrow or Wednesday and that they'd call me.
5. I remembered that this guy mentioned "the Baton" and called there to see if they could recognize the description of maybe a "regular" customer, or maybe an amateur impersonator or something, and when I finally got to talk to someone who might recognize patrons, etc. "Jim" asked me "Is this the lady I talked to last week?" and I said NO but tell me what happened and why another lady was calling about a dog napper? He gave me the person's number and I called over there immediately.
6. There was another dog stolen from a pet store on Feb. 13th - the person who stole her matches the description of "my" guy EXACTLY - tattoos on his neck, shaved eyebrows, little braids in back, hispanic about 5'6/5'7 etc... talked about his mama, about getting puppies, etc. Also mentioned The Baton, that he worked there to both of us. He apparently went into the pet store and looked at the puppies, asked for a drink of water, and when their back was turned to get him some water, snatched the puppy and ran out of the store to a waiting car.
7. I am trying to hire a private investigator to trace the phone number and get a current billing address or name attached to the phone. it might be a clone or drop phone, but I don't know yet.
I believe that there is a dog-snatching ring in play in Chicago, and that they stole from a store and a private residence. They are taking "high end" dogs and probably selling them privately or through the internet... The police wont' tell me if there's any other cases of dog-snatching, I want to find out where those crimes were committed, if this is the same guy, or find out where to FIND my PUPPY!!!
ALL INFO;
Beth's Stolen Puppy:
Delilah Blue Petoulah LeDeux Gottlieb (Can just call her Delilah)
4 mo. old Black Brindle French Bulldog, with White Snipe on Chest
From: 21st & Oakley
Sunday, Feb. 21st @ 3pm
Police Report RD#HS 175012
No detective assigned yet
Area 4: 312.746-8253
CONTACT (DOG OWNER): BETH GOTTLIEB, 773.531-6536
bethgottlieb@msn.com
Stolen From "Let's Pet" Store
Boxer Puppy: 8 weeks old, solid white with spot on one eye
Saturday, Feb. 13th @ Time?
From: 3404 N. Ashland
Police Report RD#HS162073
Detective Moscalino assigned, not in today
Area 3 (312.744-8263)
CONTACT (DOG OWNER): Pete (312.533-5668) or Susan: 773.327-2050
peteszx12@yahoo.com
Please feel free to call me if I can provide you with any more information or to let me know you can HELP ME!!!
Thank you,
Beth
