Texas Woman Arrested after Stealing Family’s Puppy, Say Police

A Texas woman sits in jail after she allegedly stole a family’s 5-month-old puppy. Police recovered the pup after a local reporter helped the family track down the woman.

“I’m speechless,” the dog’s owner, Karl Kupecz, told CBSAustin reporter Raven Ambers shortly after they found the missing. “My daughter is going to be ecstatic when she sees him. We totally didn’t expect this.”

Home security video showed a woman walking into Kupecz’s back yard and taking his puppy, Bear. He described the scene, saying, “We have a security camera system and reviewed it and saw a lady brazenly, in broad daylight, unlatch it and take the dog away.”

Kupecz put the word out on social media, posting a photo of the puppy and the alleged dog-thief on his Facebook page.

The following day, Ambers went to interview Kupecz when she noticed a woman who matched the photo from the security camera, CBSAustin reported. The woman took off when she notices they recognized her, Ambers said. They called the police and chased after the suspected thief.

Police arrived and arrested the woman, later identified as 40-year-old Heather Deann Johnson, on an outstanding warrant. Johnson took the police to an abandoned house where she left the puppy tied to a shed. On Wednesday, prosecutors added charges of theft and possession of a controlled substance to her existing warrant, the local CBS affiliate reported.

Police reunited Bear with his owner and their family.

Kupecz thank everyone for their help on a Facebook post where he showed Bear back together with his daughter and family. “Bear was checked out by the vet yesterday and was a bit dehydrated/exhaustion but should be fine,” Kupecz wrote. “My daughter and family are overjoyed and in disbelief this turned out with a happy ending. We strive to take great care of our pets and this tragedy happened in less than 15 minutes so it really drives home that you can never be too careful and there are people in the world who can and will do bad things.”

In his own words:

The cops took me to the location and he was tied up behind a shed in a backyard near “fairy alley” behind Alamo Drafthouse. He was exhausted and scared but started coming around and is doing much better now.

This was a community effort with the police, social media, news crews, pedestrians, etc. I can’t begin to express how thankful our family is for everyones help and getting the word out.

We found the lady and cops arrested her. Bear is found and we are incredibly thankful!