Suspicious’ Man Actually Was Looking For Puppy

The other day I shared a similar story-- a man was cast as suspicious for driving a white van. Well apparently there was a second story in Boston. Some guy in a white van was looking for a puupy. So what was the guy REALLY doing? He was... LOOKING FOR HIS LOST DOG! Moral of the story, if you are a man who loses a dog, let the mutt stay lost.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/07/webster-police-suspicious-man-actually-was-looking-for-puppy/


Webster Police: ‘Suspicious’ Man Actually Was Looking For Puppy
April 7, 2012 4:06 PM


Attempted Abduction, Christina Hager, Kim Tunnicliffe, Officer Steven Cacciapouti, Puppies, Webster
WEBSTER (CBS) – Police in Webster have solved the case of what was initially suspected as an attempted abduction. It turned out to be a man who was actually looking for his dog.


On Friday, officers warned residents about a suspicious man in a white pick-up truck who appeared to have attempted to lure a six-year-old girl as she played in her yard.


“He pulled up and told the young lady that he was out looking for his dog, and asked if she’d seen it,” Officer Steven Cacciapouti said on Friday. “The mother was watching, saw what was going on, and stepped out, and when she did that, he took off at a high rate of speed, circled around and drove up Route 16.”


On Saturday morning, police received a phone call from their suspect.
“The gentleman saw it in the newspaper came right down this morning,” Sgt. Thomas Reynolds said on Saturday.


As it turns out, the man in question, who lives down the street, had his dog, which police described as a high value specialty dog, jump from his truck and take off.




“(He) was kind of in a panic looking for the dog. He says he never saw the mother. He pulled up asked the girl real quick ‘did you see a dog?’ She said ‘no,’” Sgt. Reynolds said. “He saw somebody jogging up the street so he sped off to catch up to them.”


Police say the man’s story checks out. They also noted that despite the misunderstanding, the mom did the right thing.


“Mom sees the car pull in real quick, it only takes a second, that exchange between the driver and the daughter. She steps out and the gentleman takes off real quick,” Sgt. Reynolds said. “When you look at it from her perspective she’s thinking you know what, this isn’t right. We hear it and think you know what this is not right; why would you take off when mom steps out? But in fact he never saw mom. He’s not even thinking about talking to a young girl, he’s just thinking about the dog.”




The man in question, police say, did eventually find his dog unharmed. And police say, that despite the scare that the incident may have caused residents, they’d rather be safe than sorry.


“We prefer to be cautious and put that type of information out and find out later on that we were over reacting rather than not put that information out and find out it was in fact an actual attempted abduction,” Sgt. Reynolds said.