Arrest made in connection to stolen dog
LAWRENCE, Ind. (WISH) – An arrest has been made in connection to the theft of a dog.
According to the Lawrence Police Department, 29-year-old Juan Estrada was taken into custody Friday morning.
Estrada faces a preliminary charge of theft.
Police said a man was captured on surveillance video stealing a puppy from a parked car in a Lawrence parking lot on Jan. 13.
Police also said that they credit that video in apprehension of the suspect.
“Having that security video can be a huge help to detectives when it comes to determining who was responsible for committing a crime,” Lawrence PD Deputy Chief, Gary Woodruff said.
Last Friday, the video captured the theft of a three-month-old toy poodle named Coco being swiped from a parked car.
Police believe Estrada is the man in the video because of how many people identified him.
“It was caught on camera, even to the point where you could see the puppy sitting in the vehicle prior to the theft even occurring,” Woodruff said.
Coco’s owner, Daisy Brito, has been heartbroken.
She’s thankful the quality of the video helped police.
“So grateful or else we wouldn’t have any leads, we have probably lost hope by now,” she said.
She said the police and the public have helped more than she ever thought.
“To many people he’s just a dog, but I’m very glad that they’ve been helping us a lot,” she said.
“Especially when it involves a family pet, I mean that tugs at everybody’s heart strings who are pet owners,” Woodruff said.
Now that there’s a suspect, Brito is most concerned with finding her puppy.
She’d heard from strangers that the suspect had tried selling Coco.
“That he was out in the gas stations around the neighborhood and he was trying to sell him to people,” she said.
But so far no one has come forward with Coco’s whereabouts.
She’s hoping the suspect will tell police while he’s in custody.
“I’m just hoping that he finds it in the kindness of his heart and just tells us where he is,” she said, “We just want to get him back.”
The family is offering their own reward of $200 for anyone who finds Coco.
Anyone with information on Coco’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-8477.
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