Theft of an animal
PI Jamie Katz with Kai Kassar and Stacey Ribeau
2017-01-29
<<<<>Look Who's Home<>>>>
Missing for 13 Days in Orlando, FL and rehomed in Clearwater, FL... Layla is now SAFE & HOME!!! Here is Layla’s story, told by her owner Kai.
Hello Jamie,
Before I tell Layla's story of how she went missing, I would like to thank you Jamie Katz and the members of Conway Orlando Community, Conway Critters, Stacey Ribeau, Orlando PD, Katrina Evans, Scott Reigel and Clearwater PD for the work care and support you all showed.
My English is not 100% perfect but here is my story. When I first got Layla from her previous owner in Georgia in the beginning of December 2016 she was neglected. Layla used to live in a big farm and was not allowed to stay inside the house, she had ticks, fleas, hook worm, heart worm and an eye infection. Layla was responding to the treatment very fast and within 2-3 weeks Layla was becoming healthier and very happy. On Saturday January 14th, my wife and I went out for dinner, it was around 9pm. We took the kids with us to drop them at my wife's friends house to baby sit them and we all came back home around 11:30pm. When I parked the car, I stepped out and I could see the sliding glass door open. I knew right away that Layla was gone. I walked around the apartment complex hoping Layla was still out there but she wasn't. The next day we went out looking for her at Pet Alliance in Sanford and Orlando but we couldn't find her. I posted her picture on Conway Orlando Community and Conway Critics hoping someone would tell me information about her.
A couple hours had gone by and then a guy messaged me saying my dog was on craigslist. The guy that posted the add left his name & his phone number. Stacey & I responded to the add but he replied saying he already had my dog scanned for a microchip and he found the owner. I replied saying my dog is not microchipped, after a half day of me calling and texting him, he finally answered my phone call. I asked him if I can have my dog back, I told him that I have a proof she's mine and he said he gave her to his friend in Clearwater, Florida. He gave me her name, her phone number and he asked me to keep him out of this. I called the woman right away but she rejected my call but she texted me and said she would rather text. She wanted to know everything about my dog, she wanted pictures, shot records, my wanted to know my dogs name and her description… but at the end she said that it was not my dog. She then blocked me from being able to contact her and everyone who tried to tell her that it was my dog got blocked too.
I called Orlando PD and asked for an officer to write a police report, thirty minutes later a police officer was on my door and Stacey showed up too. Five days later my case was still not solved, everything was happening very slow and then Stacy called me with a new plan. Stacey said she knows that if I hired PI Jamie Katz, that she will bring your dog back. I called Jamie, hired her and within a couple hours Jamie had a complete plan for me to follow. Jamie set up everything I needed to do in order to get my dog back from this woman, all I had to do was follow Jamie’s instructions 100%.
I drove to Clearwater, FL on January 26th, I got there around 8:30 pm. I called the Clearwater PD and told them I needed an officer to meet me and help me get my stolen dog back. The Officer asked me to show him the proof that the dog this woman had in her home was Layla and proof that Layla was my dog. I showed all proof Jamie said we needed and the Police Officer knocked on her door. She answered the door and the look on her face was as if she was surprised that we were here. She started with, “Sir, this guy threatened me”. The police officer looked at me and said, “did you”? I said no. The only defense this woman was saying for days was that my dog was skinny and said I threatened her. She said nothing in response and the police officer said let's not get into this and that we are all adult here. The officer than asked for her to bring the dog outside and then she said the dog has been abused. The officer said if the dog shows signs that she is fears me, then we will do something about that too. The officer wanted to see if I was the owner by Layla’s response once she saw me. The woman insisted that she was looking for the dog’s owner but all these people were trying to claim her including myself. I told the officer that I tried to show her proof that she is mine but she wanted to keep her. There were a lot of people online trying to help me but she blocked them all from contacting her as well. The officer then said, “please ma'am, bring the dog outside”. She went inside and brought Layla out on leash. Layla saw me and she started walking toward me wagging her tail but the woman was holding the leash tight. The officer asked her to drop the leash on the ground but she didn't want to, she was holding Layla’s leash was not wanting to let go. The officer then said, “may I”, and took the leash from her hand and dropped it on the ground. That's when Layla ran to me! I was checking her all over to see if she was okay and she was. She was dirty and had a lot of dirt in her ears and then…I noticed that her two white nails on her left rear foot were painted with black nail polish to try and change her toe nail color from white to black. I told this woman that Layla had two white toe nails when she asked me to prove this dog was mine and she used that to try and fool me!!!
I was so happy to be holding my baby and to finally have her back. I called my family and told them all that we got Layla back, I then called Jamie Katz and Stacey and thanked them over and over.
- Kai Kassar in Orlando, FL
PI Jamie Katz
2017-01-29
<<<<<>Awareness Post<>>>>>
I have heard one or two stories of a missing dogs hair being dyed in order to disguise the dog from the owner. In my experience this is not common but I am here to let you know it does in fact happen and it's sick!
A couple days ago I was messaging back and forth with a woman in her late 20's. This woman's friend had given her a lost dog almost 2 weeks prior and she was not looking for the owner. This woman told me that she was only holding on to this dog because she did not want to give the dog to someone pretending to be the dogs owner... I understood that and now I was here to give her all the proof in the world that she had my clients dog.
I sent vet records, a photo of my client with his dog and I told her that the dog's left rear foot had two white toes & toenails. Besides the fact that my client hired me to get his dog back, this woman still would not cooperate or believe this was the same dog.
I don't want to ruin the found story but we got the police to step in and we were able to reunite the dog with the owner…
My client called me as soon as he got his dog back and he was ecstatic!!! He was telling me all that transpired with the police officer, the woman, all that was said and then he said, "she painted my dogs toenails". My first thought was ohhhh... she loved the dog and that's why no proof was good enough for this girl. Well I was wrong because she did NOT paint this dogs toenails pink, she painted the dogs toenails black!!!!
I have now had my first case of someone trying to change the appearance of a missing dog in order to keep the dog from it's owner. My mind is officially blown and I will post this story in the next couple hours...
DNA Florida
The contents of this file has been taken from public sources and first-hand accounts and is for informational purposes only; and not to be considered a legal document.
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