MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Investigators are searching for a dog they say was stolen from the front porch of a Maplewood home last Tuesday.
Chanessa Gipson, 34, and Christopher Brigham, 24, are charged with two counts of theft each for allegedly taking a 3-year-old French Bulldog named Pablo from his home on the morning of May 9.
Maplewood police officers were sent to the 1400 block of Silkman Avenue East and spoke with a woman who said her dog, which she had paid $10,000 for, had escaped from the backyard and had been on the front stoop when he was stolen.
Surveillance video captured the incident, showing a woman walking up the front steps and attempting to make contact with the front door before taking the dog.
Two days later, charging documents say that a man, later identified as Brigham, contacted the dog’s owner on Facebook. He said he had her dog and would not return it unless she paid him $500. The woman offered to pay $100, saying she could not afford to pay what he demanded.
The owner says she knew that the person messaging had Pablo because she had requested and received photos and a video of him.
When she asked to meet to exchange the dog for money, Brigham stopped replying.
Pablo’s owner later received a call from a man who would not identify himself but said that Brigham had stolen Pablo. The man went on to say Brigham and a woman scout out dogs who look lost and sell them for profit or sell them back to the owners for a reward or finder’s fee.
Investigators were able to contact Brigham and warned him if he did not return the dog that same day, he would face criminal charges.
Brigham allegedly claimed he did not have the dog and had returned Pablo to Gipson.
Investigators spoke to Gipson, who said Brigham was claiming she had the dog when she did not.
When asked if she took the dog, Gipson said Pablo had been running into traffic when they stopped for him. She claimed she knocked on several doors before deciding to take him home until his owner came forward.
She then went on to say that Brigham took Pablo from her home.
Investigators say Brigham still denies having the dog.
Police have still yet to locate Pablo and are considering animal cruelty charges if his condition has worsened due to not receiving his medicine.