03x17 - Puppy Thief Mystery

[bunniefuu]

Somebody stole your puppy, right?

She saw me walking,
calling my dog and crying.

-No, I didn't.
-Yes, you did.

She saw you picking up the puppy.

Hmm?

[Judge Judy]
You let a 13-week-old puppy out alone.

It's like letting a six-month-old baby
who's just learning to crawl.

[announcer]
This is Judge Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Dominique Rogers is suing
her neighbor, Tamella Thomas,

for taking her French Bulldog puppy
without permission.

[Bailiff Kevin]
Court, come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Hello, Judge. Case number 3008,
Rogers versus Thomas.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

Ms. Rogers, the first couple of lines
of your complaint

indicate that you're a dog breeder.

Yes.

[Judge Judy]
What kind of dogs do you breed?

Frenchies.

How long have you been doing that?

Actually, just now starting.
It's my first time.

[Judge Judy] So that's not your business.
What do you do?

For a living,
I'm a customer service representative.

From whom did you purchase
these two dogs that you had?

One, Ghost,
that was a year and a half old,

I assume that that's a male.

Yes.

He was purchased from a breeder
in Pontiac, Michigan.

-[Judge Judy] When he was a puppy?
-Yes.

And the second dog
that you got was a female.

And you intended, I assume,
to breed those two dogs.

Yes.

[Judge Judy] And that was
a 13-week-old French Bulldog.

-[Dominique] Correct.
-[Judge Judy] That you got from where?

From a local breeder who's been breeding
Frenchies for 30 years in my city...

Muskegon, Michigan.

[Judge Judy] This is what your complaint...
I'm reading it.

I'm sort of wide-eyed reading it.

You got two dogs.
The puppy, you got in February.

You let the dogs out
to use a potty break.

The property that you
let them out on is not fenced.

The puppy was 13 weeks old.

You let a 13-week-old puppy
out with a dog

that was probably
used to going in and out.

You let that 13-week-old puppy out alone,

and you claim that the defendant
stole the puppy.

-That's your claim.
-[Dominique] Yes.

So my first question to you is,
why in the world would you let

a 13-week-old puppy
out in an unfenced area?

Why?

What were you thinking?

I was just letting her out
to use the bathroom.

This is something that I normally do.

No, you don't. You just got this puppy.
She was 13 weeks old.

Well, I've had the 13-month-old dog
for over a year.

Well, that I understand.
I mean, that's also foolish.

But I understand if you've had
the dog for over a year,

and you've trained the dog to come home,

that it knows where to come,
but not the puppy.

What were you thinking, that the older dog
would discuss with the younger dog

not to run off, but to use the potty
and then run back into the house?

I don't understand what you were thinking.
I mean, I've had dogs all my life.

Thirteen-week-old puppies,
they don't know where they're going.

Anyway, you let the dog out
on what date?

February the 27th.

What time?

Around 2:00.

[Judge Judy] And what time did you realize
that the little girl was missing?

Not even 15 minutes later.

So what did you do?

I quickly put on my shoes
and I started walking down the street,

calling the dog's name.

-[Judge Judy] And?
-[Dominique] I didn't see him.

And?

I see a neighbor
who is behind an abandoned house

that's on the corner
and I asked him had he seen my puppy.

You cannot tell me
what anybody said to you.

Okay. So I'm just asking around.

They started telling me...

You can't tell me
what anybody told you, madam.

-[Dominique] Okay.
-Is this a witness who saw something?

Or is this just somebody here
to keep you company while you're here?

She's a witness.

-[Judge Judy] Tell me your name.
-Lana Carson.

[Judge Judy] Ms. Carson, do you live
on the same block?

I do not.

What are you a witness to?

I'm an animal control officer
for our county.

That afternoon on the 27th,

I was scheduled for various
welfare checks for animals.

One of the calls that I had,
I had to go by the area.

So as I was coming down the road,
on the left-hand side,

there was a house that must have had
a recent fire or something,

and there were several people
that were standing out in the house,

so it caught my attention.

Right where that house was on the corner,

we had to make a left-hand turn to get
to the address that we were going to.

Not her address?

Not her address.
My call was unrelated.

As I came around the corner,
there were two French Bulldogs

that were in this front yard.

One was, like, a tan and white.

It was an older, bigger dog.

And then the other one
was a small, tan puppy.

Two dogs were running loose,
so it, of course, caught my attention.

I am the dog catcher. [chuckles]

So as the dogs were in this yard,
I just kind of kept an eye on...

[Judge Judy]
'Cause there were no fences there.

In this particular yard there was a fence,
but there was an opening.

And there was a lady
that was in the yard.

And she bent down and picked up
the small, tan puppy

and was holding the puppy,
but the other dog, the bigger dog,

got through a hole that was in the fence.

It was an open gate.

So I immediately rolled down the window
and said, "Do you need help with this?

Do you want me to grab the dog?"

And the gal who was holding
the tan puppy said, "No, he's got it."

And I said, "Okay.

Now, at this time,
I'm in an unmarked vehicle

because we're on welfare checks.

When she said, "No, he's got it,"
did you see any male there?

There was a male that was standing
in the driveway of this house,

so I did see somebody.

And so when she said, "No, he's got it,"
I was assuming it was the gentleman

'cause I did see
somebody in that driveway.

She was still holding the tan puppy.

The adult dog then ran another house down.

I'm like, "Okay, I didn't see anybody
coming around the corner."

She was standing there
holding the tan puppy.

I asked again, "Are you sure
you don't want me to grab this dog?"

And she once again said,
"No, he's got it."

Then I started getting a little,
you know, frustrated

because this dog
is still making its way down the block.

-Down the block, untethered...
-[Lana] Untethered.

-...and unaccompanied.
-[Lana] Correct.

So another house down,

the dog kind of jetted back
behind a yellow house,

and one last time,
because I made a comment

to my coworker
who was riding with me that day,

I said, "Well, chances are
we're gonna be

getting a call
for a lost Frenchie that day."

So at that time when I saw
the dog go behind this house,

again, I hollered back.
I said, "That dog is down here."

And then that was it.
So we went on to our call.

She was still standing there
with the tan puppy.

Is that person in court today?

Yes.

[theme music playing]

She saw you picking up
from a front yard...

Yes.

I assume it's yours.

No, not my front yard.
It's the house across the street.

[Judge Judy]
So you saw the two Frenchies

in a yard
across the street from you?

Yeah, I seen the...

-Shh!
-[Tamella] Yes.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Dominique Rogers claims
her neighbor, Tamella Thomas,

stole her French Bulldog puppy
and gave it away.

Is that person in court today?

-Yes.
-[Judge Judy] That's the defendant?

[Lana] Yes.

[Judge Judy] When you got the call
that a dog was missing

that was a Frenchie from that area,

did you make contact with the plaintiff?

So the same day,
Dominique did call in a missing dog.

The next day, however,
because we did, crazy enough,

get a Frenchie in,
so our office called Dominique

and said,
"Please come down to the shelter."

That's our protocol, so we ask people
to come down to the shelter.

That day, I was working
actually in office, not out in the field.

And so Dominique, when she came into
the shelter and said, "Hey, I got a call,"

part of our protocol is we ask that
the owner gives us a picture of the dog.

And so she showed me
a picture of the dog...

[Judge Judy] And it wasn't the dog
you had in the shelter.

It wasn't the dog that was there.

But you recognized the dog.

I said, "Oh, my gosh,
this is the dog that I saw yesterday."

[Judge Judy]
How far does the plaintiff live

from where you saw the defendant
holding the puppy?

About three doors down.

Okay. Ball is now in your court.

Let's go.

Do you remember her?

Well...
-[Judge Judy] Do you remember her?

I remember a lady saying something
one time in a white van.

If she was the lady in a white van,
someone did talk to me.

-The lady in the white van...
-[Tamella] Mm-hmm.

...says that she asked you three times.

-Did I get that?
-That's not true.

[Judge Judy] Three times,
"Do you need help here?"

Tell me what you were doing
with her dog.

If she seen me,
she seen a guy at the corner.

-[Judge Judy] Don't tell me what she saw.
-Oh.

[Judge Judy] She saw you picking up
from a front yard...

-[Tamella] Yes.
-[Judge Judy] I assume it's yours.

No, not my front yard.
It's the house across the street.

So you saw the two Frenchies,
the big one and the little one,

in a yard across the street from you?

-Yeah, I seen the...
-[Judge Judy] Shh!

Yes.

[Judge Judy]
And you crossed the street?

[Tamella] Yes.

[Judge Judy] You crossed the street
and picked up the puppy?

They were trying to catch it.

-[Judge Judy] Who was trying to catch it?
-The guys.

There was two guys I seen out there.
They were trying to catch it.

They wasn't by each other at first.

There was a small one by the opening,
and there was a bigger one,

I didn't see that one till later.

Like, I seen the small one first.
They were trying to catch it.

So they, like,
the dog, like, trying to get the dog,

so I went across the street.

I grabbed the little one.
It was, like, almost by the fence.

Okay, so I grabbed the dog.

As soon as I picked up the dog,
I lifted it up, she said,

like, asked the question one time,
that's it, and she kept going.

I never seen her no more.
I never held it.

She never came back again
'cause it was that fast.

I went right back across the street.
I handed the dog off and left.

[Judge Judy] To who?

It was a guy.
It was two cars parked on the side.

It was a silver car, and I'm not sure
what other vehicles were right there,

but they were both outside the car.

And I handed the dog off 'cause they were
already out there when I came outside.

You see any two men?

I saw a lady with long, black hair,
long, gray coat.

There was a gentleman
with a black coat and a black hat.

And then there was another woman there.

-[Judge Judy] Another woman?
-Mm-hmm.

When did you first find out, Ms. Thomas,
that this dog belonged to the plaintiff?

[Tamella]
The next day.

[Judge Judy]
Tell me how you found out.

The police officer came and asked me
have I seen these dogs.

He was going around house to house,
and I said, "Yes, I seen them yesterday."

And I told them
I handed it off to a male.

And you didn't say anything to him,
didn't have an exchange of conversation?

[Tamella]
He just said, "Thank you."

I was really trying to get my groceries
out the car at the time,

and I had a little baby.

I went back. My mom was in the house
at the time with the baby.

-I never had no conversation.
-Okay. This is your mother?

-Mm-hmm.
-Yes.

[Judge Judy]
Step up, please.

-Tell me your last name.
-Phillips.

You remember the day
that your daughter is talking about?

Which is February 27th.

Yes.

How do you remember it?

[Tressa]
She came back in the house.

I asked her did she need any more help
getting the groceries out

'cause I was in there watching the baby.

And she said no, she got everything.
And then...

So she said,
"No, I have everything."

[Tressa] Yeah. She told me she got
all the stuff out of the car,

and then she wanted to say...

She said,
"These people was out there.

I had helped the people get their dog."

I thought she was being a Good Samaritan.

I didn't know this was gonna
take effect like this.

I thought she was just being
a Good Samaritan, and that was it.

Do you have any dogs?

No.

[Judge Judy]
Does your daughter have any dogs?

No.

[Judge Judy]
Do the two of you live together?

No.

When had you arrived
at her house that day?

I know it was in the daytime.

It was kind of early
when I got over there.

I usually go to work, come home...

Not "I usually." I want you to tell me
what time you got there.

-You remember everything about that day.
-[Tressa] Okay.

Had to been probably about 12:00.

-Probably about 12:00.
-[Judge Judy] You got there at 12:00?

About 12:00.

And what time
did she leave for the grocery?

Probably about an hour and a half
of me being there.

About an hour and a half.

[Judge Judy]
So she left about 1:30?

Probably about 1:00
'cause she was back.

She didn't get a lot of stuff.
Probably about 1:00.

And what time did she return?

[Tressa]
She wasn't gone real long.

About 45 minutes, probably.

[Judge Judy]
So she was back by 2:00?

Yeah.

And what time did you see
the defendant with a puppy?

Probably shortly before 2:00.

[Judge Judy] Ms. Carson,
you've heard Ms. Thomas say

that when she came home
from grocery shopping,

she saw these two dogs across the street.

One of them was a small puppy.

She went over
and picked up the small puppy.

She believed that these two men...

She said two men,
you said you saw a man and a woman,

and the dog belonged to them.

She turned the puppy over to them.

You're an animal control officer.

Is anything that you saw on that date

inconsistent with what
the defendant just told me?

[Lana] I do know that there
was a female there. There was a male.

She was already over on the side
of the house where the dogs were,

and she was picking them up.

[Judge Judy]
Who was picking them up?

[Lana] I'm sorry, the defendant
had picked up the dog.

-[Judge Judy] The puppy?
-Yeah.

I did not see anybody else
trying to get these dogs.

She was the only one
that was in pursuit

of these two dogs
and just picked up the one.

And then it was just kind of like,
"Oh, no, he's got it," you know.

That's why I was kind of,
"This dog is getting away."

There wasn't a lot of, you know,
intent on getting that other one.

That's why I was following it.

So I did not see anybody else
that was trying to help get those dogs.

When did the people approach you
and say, "This is my dog"?

She didn't see anybody.

They were already out there.

And they were trying
to get the dogs already,

and that's when I came across the street.

And then the little one
started going that way and I grabbed it,

and I went right back to that corner
and handed the dog off.

She seen me hand the dog off.

When the police asked me,
I told them,

I said a white van rolled past
and everything.

I said they were there.

She was like,
did I see Pound Buddies?

I said no 'cause she said
she was in an unmarked car.

I'm thinking maybe that was something.
I'm like, "I seen a lady in a white van."

That's it.

And she seen me hand the dog off.

And I went back across the street
with the long coat.

I walked right...I didn't have no dog
in my hand not even five seconds.

I picked the dog up
and straight handed it off.

So how would you dare ask me
three times that I need help?

You didn't ask me no three times,
nothing about no help.

[theme music playing]

When I came outside
with my other dog,

Tamella crossed my path,

seeing me out there
looking ugly and stupid,

calling my dog and crying.

She walked right past me.

-No, I didn't.
-Yes, you did.

[theme music playing]

[announcer] Dominique Rogers has accused
her neighbor, Tamella Thomas,

of stealing her French Bulldog puppy.

Tamella claims she gave the dog
to a man she thought was the owner.

Okay, Ms. Rogers, you know how
all of this could have been avoided?

If I wouldn't have never
let my dogs out unattended.

Right, which you're not
supposed to do anyway.

Not the big one.
And certainly not the little one.

And I'm not prepared
to label Ms. Thomas a thief.

No.

Based upon what I heard,
I'm just not prepared to do that.

I think that there could be a scenario
where that happened.

But even based upon
your witness's testimony,

I'm not prepared to do that,
to label her a thief.

So what other evidence
do you have to show me

that she was a conspirator
in waiting for you

to let your dogs outside
and stealing the puppy?

I'm not saying that she was
a conspirator to waiting.

I certainly left the opportunity open.

I have a big, sorry, yard.
I'm a renter.

Me and my landlord have went
back and forth many a time...

It has nothing to do with your landlord.
It has only to do with you.

-...about trying to get a fence.
-This has only to do with you.

-[Dominique] I understand.
-That's what leashes are for.

I understand.

And so, with that being said,
I have a police report.

I'd like to see it.

[Dominique]
Um, she says...

-Shh!
-[Dominique] Okay.

"On the 28th of February,
Dominique stated

that a French Bulldog was stolen
from the side yard of her residence.

She was told that a taller Black male
came into the yard and took her dog.

She stated that the male subject
was wearing a red coat with a white hat."

-[Tamella] Hmm?
-[Judge Judy] Who told you that?

That's what I was trying
to tell you when I...

The neighbor, and you told me
don't mention that.

This is the one.

The top page is the one
that I'm showing you where she admits...

[Judge Judy]
No. Where she what?

Admitted that she handed the dog off

to somebody in a car
that she thought was the owner.

That's what she's saying,
"I thought that this was the owner."

She said in the car, but then
she just said a few seconds ago

that they were standing
next to each other and she...

[Judge Judy]
He had been in a silver car.

Yeah.
-[Judge Judy] He had been in a silver car.

Can I also say this, ma'am?

[Judge Judy] Yeah.

When I came outside
with my other dog,

Tamella crossed my path,

seeing me out there
looking ugly and stupid,

calling my dog and crying.
She walked right past me.

No, I didn't.

-Yes, you did.
-[Judge Judy] Just a second.

In that gray coat
and that long, black hair.

I never was outside.

[Judge Judy]
Shh, I don't want you to answer her.

She's so pretty,
I didn't think she cared about my dogs.

So I didn't say anything
and I'm screaming and yelling.

Why, as a Good Samaritan,
she didn't say, "Hey"?

It was that same day.

She didn't say,
"Hey, what are you looking for?"

She walked literally past me
with my white dog

standing next to me,
and I had him on a leash at that time

'cause we were both out
looking for Penelope.

She saw me walking
and calling my dog.

And that's how I knew
who she was talking about

when I called the Pound Buddy
because she described the woman...

[Judge Judy]
A neighbor told you...

-A neighbor told you...
-[Dominique] The neighbor and...

-Shh!
-[Dominique] I'm sorry.

[Judge Judy]
A neighbor...

I'm just telling you,
a neighbor told you

that a male took the dog
from your yard.

The police did not write
the report up right

because just as my witness
stated that the police stated

in the first thing that he saw
Mella give the dog...

the witness give the dog to a guy,

my witness says she's never seen her
give the dog to anybody.

[Judge Judy] Okay.

I am not prepared to say
that the defendant stole your dog.

Okay.

[Judge Judy] I'm prepared to say that
you were a very bad caretaker

-of a 13-week-old puppy.
-Okay.

[Judge Judy]
And that you have to bear that burden.

There is a slim possibility
that the defendant may have been involved

in stealing your puppy.
I somehow doubt it.

The only thing that I know for certain

is that you let
a 13-week-old puppy out unattended.

Forget about
the year-and-a-half-old puppy.

I would never let my two-year-old puppy
out alone and unattended

in an unfenced yard.

So those are the consequences
that you accept.

Even if you have a fenced yard
with a 13-week-old puppy,

I don't know whether I would let
a 13-week-old puppy out.

They dig holes.

And you also have to be afraid
of somebody stealing them.

Because what you said is
somebody stole your puppy, right?

I lost my dog.

And I was honest about that
when I made my police report.

And this is why I did
leave them unattended,

because I work from home
and I only had a 15-minute break.

I went to the bathroom
and came back out.

By the time I got back
to my computer desk to get back on

after my 15 break,
it had only been 20 minutes after,

so I was only five minutes late,

after I had already did
all the searching and everything.

That's why I don't know
how come I didn't see...

[Judge Judy]
I don't know either.

All you know for sure is that you let
a 13-week-old puppy out alone.

That's like letting a six-month-old baby
who's just learning to crawl go out.

Let's keep our fingers crossed
that you come back.

-It's not about you, it's about the dog.
-No, it's not.

And I would think twice
about breeding dogs,

because if you're very busy
with your other business...

This is not a hobby.

Breeding dogs is a skilled art form
that people should be educated about.

And this is about the third case
that I've had involving

this adorable breed of dog...
French Bulldogs...

that everybody thinks now
is sort of a sport to raise.

It's not a sport.

-And that's what I know.
-Good. Your case is dismissed.

[Bailiff Kevin]
This court is adjourned.

I don't think that I did any wrong

by letting my dogs go out
to use the bathroom.

I don't steal dogs.

Honestly, these are like my children.

I'm happy with the decision she made.

I made flyers and everything.
She saw me calling my dog.

The dogs were running loose.

I actually love animals.
I love my dogs.

Why would I steal your dogs?

And I certainly just wouldn't
leave her unattended

like that for no reason
and stuff like that.

I hope she finds her dog.

She just admitted in there
that she picked up the dog.

That was true.
It was in my hands.

But I handed it off to the guy
who was out there

who claimed that that was his dog.

I just want my dog back.
It wasn't even about the money.

I seen posters and everything.

I'm not just a breeder.
I care about my dogs.

I don't have it, so...

In this court,
and in most civil cases,

the burden of proof
is more evidence than not.

And I really believe that
before you label someone as a thief,

you have to be pretty secure,
pretty confident,

that their story is not possible.

Yeah.

Because there was some evidence
that she had possession of the dog

for a period of time.

But then she gave
a perfectly plausible, to me, explanation.

When you asked for that additional proof,
I thought we were gonna see

a social media post after the fact
with the defendant with the dog,

you know, something that indicated
that she had possession of the dog

post this point of the time
in which it went missing.

-You just don't let your dogs run loose.
-[Sarah] Yeah.

I mean, they could get hit by a car.

Nothing good happens
from letting them run loose.

Nothing good happens.
Nothing positive.

[announcer]
Want justice?

[theme music playing]