Suburban police hope charges will be filed soon in the shooting death of an expensive Pomeranian puppy, but they say they are awaiting the apprehension of a key figure in the case.
The puppy was one of two stolen from a pet stop in Lombard in June. The dog turned up at a Downers Grove animal hospital several days later with a wound from a BB gun that later proved fatal.
Two men who brought the dog to the hospital say a neighbor shot the dog. The two men later were charged with felony retail theft for allegedly stealing the dogs from the pet shop. Bolingbrook resident Lydell Smith is being held in the DuPage County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail as of Monday, but Chicago resident Dasheik Muhammad-Arnold remained at large.
Police have yet to officially determine who shot the dog and why. Bolingbrook Cmdr. Ken Teppel said he expects animal cruelty charges will be filed against whoever they eventually conclude killed the puppy.
The case began, police said, when the two men entered the Happiness Is Pets pet store on Roosevelt Road in Lombard and asked to look at puppies. When store employees told them to produce photo identification, a standard request of those who wish to handle expensive pets, the men then left. But they returned several hours later with IDs, said Lombard Detective Janet Myerson. The men again asked to look at two Pomeranian puppies — one male and one female — and store employees permitted them to play with the pups in a store play area.
Shortly afterward, police say, the men fled the store with the puppies, which were for sale for about $590 each. A store employee copied down the license number of the men’s car, which was registered to a Bolingbrook woman who turned out to be Smith’s girlfriend, Myerson said.
As Lombard police investigated the theft over the next several weeks, they learned that Bolingbrook police had begun an investigation of Smith. That investigation began when a veterinarian at Arboretum View Animal Hospital in Downers Grove contacted Bolingbrook police on June 25 after two men, later determined to be Smith and Muhammad-Arnold, had brought a 17-week-old, cream-colored female Pomeranian to the hospital with a BB gunshot wound in the head, Teppel said. They claimed a neighbor shot the dog. The dog died later that day.
Smith had presented a check as a deposit for veterinary care, but when hospital officials tried to electronically process it, the check bounced, and the two men fled quickly, Teppel said.
Lombard and Bolingbrook’s Police Departments then got together and had store employees identify Smith in a photo lineup. They also confirmed through an implanted chip that the deceased pup at Arboretum View indeed was one stolen from the store. At that point, police went to Smith’s home in Bolingbrook to arrest him. While they were at his home, they discovered the other stolen Pomeranian puppy, Teppel said.
“Smith claimed that the puppies were gifts for his mother,” Teppel said. “We talked to Smith’s mom, and she had no idea what he was talking about.”
Police still have no idea exactly why one of the puppies was shot, Teppel said. Animal cruelty charges may be filed after Muhammad-Arnold is arrested and interviewed, Teppel said.
According to Teppel, the Will County state’s attorney will charge animal cruelty if “we can get physical evidence or some type of co-conspirator statement.”
“The felony retail theft will be easy to prove,” Teppel said, “since there are more independent witnesses, plus the possession of the living dog at Smith’s house in Bolingbrook.”
Cherie Travis, a lawyer and the associate director of the Center for Animal Law at DePaul University College of Law, praised officers from both police departments and the veterinary staff at Arboretum View.
“This is a great example of everyone doing their jobs perfectly,” Travis said. “The veterinary hospital knew that it had a duty, under the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, to report animal cruelty, and the Bolingbrook and Lombard Police Departments did a great job of investigating the crimes.”
The male Pomeranian was returned to Happiness Is Pets. A store manager said the puppy has been taken to the home of one of the store employees and no longer is for sale.
The manager refused further comment.
