Owner fights off tears after bulldogs stolen from Lexington County home, sheriff says
When he was telling sheriff’s deputies about his missing dogs, a Pelion man could not stop crying.
He was “highly emotional” after his two English bulldogs were stolen, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said.
The dogs’ owner reached out to law enforcement to help bring Zeus and Lily home safely, and now the sheriff’s department is asking for the community’s help to track down the missing bulldogs.
The dogs vanished from a Patricia Avenue home on Feb. 13, according to an incident report. Deputies met with the victim on Feb. 19.
Zeus is a 2-year-old male with a brindle coat, and Lily’s a 9-month-old female puppy who is brown and white, the sheriff’s office said.
The dogs were not wearing collars and are not microchipped, according to the incident report.
The owner told investigators it is highly unusual for the bulldogs he intended to breed to be missing.
The “dogs were very well-behaved and have never tried to run off in the past,” the victim said in the incident report. Because that’s something they would never do, he’s sure they were stolen.
That was not the only reason the victim said the dogs, valued at a combined $5,600, were stolen.
When he realized the bulldogs were no longer on the property, the owner found his surveillance cameras had been deactivated or “unhooked,” according to the incident report.
This discovery and the dogs’ disappearance all happened after another man had come to the victim’s home to help him work on a race car, the sheriff’s department said.
In the incident report, the owner told investigators he met this man through another person, who the victim contacted after the dogs vanished. During that call, the owner said he was told the man who helped him on the race car had Zeus and Lily.
The victim told investigators he then got in touch with the man he suspected of stealing the dogs, according to the incident report. During that conversation, the man said he did return to the owner’s home but left when there was no answer after he knocked on the door.
That man actually returned to the victim’s property the next day, it said in the incident report. He was there to pick up some go-karts the owner was trying to sell.
The incident report did not say if the victim confronted the man, or if he gave him the go-karts.
The sheriff’s department has not said if it has been in touch with the man the victim identified, or if he is considered the person who took the bulldogs.
It did confirm the dogs were stolen and is asking for the public’s help in tracking them down.
Anyone with information on the bulldogs is asked to call Sgt. Ben Treaster at 803-785-0845, Crimestoppers at 888-CRIME-SC, or submit an online tip.
