Furry thief grabs Christmas present out of grocery store aisle [shoplifter still at-large]

KSL News Radio ^ | Dec. 24, 2008 | John Hollenhorst

[smokingfrog]

Some people just can't wait to open their Christmas presents. That apparently was the case with a short and very fast thief who went to a store in Murray, grabbed a present and made a clean getaway.

At Smith's Food & Drug in Murray, a popular place these days is the manager's office, where they have the surveillance video. "You had to see to believe it, but it happened. So, it's crazy," said Tracy Jacobson, with Smith's Food & Drug.

A suspicious character entered through the front door. "I've never seen him shop in here before; new customer, didn't even have his Fresh Value card," store manager Roger Adamson said.

What happened next is already becoming legend. "I mean, how likely is that? For a dog to walk into a store, go down the pet aisle, get his bone and walk out?" Jacobson said.

Let's reconstruct the crime a step at a time: Entering at the checkout area, the dog approached a young girl. "He just kind of sniffed the customer up, and then headed down the aisle," Adamson said.

At that point, he had a decision to make: Left? No dog food. Right? Dog food. He turned right and went straight to aisle 16, the dog food aisle.

There are so many fun Christmas presents he could have picked, but he seemed to know exactly what he was after. He grabbed a rawhide bone and headed down the aisle, only to be confronted by the manager.

"I looked at him. I said, ‘Drop it!'" Adamson said. "I decided I wanted to keep all my fingers, so I didn't try to take it from him. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he ran for the door and away he went, right out the front door."

[smokingfrog]

Captured on video.

Merry Christmas, Balto, wherever you are!

[tubebender]

Much humor over here... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2154626/posts

[Viking2002]

LOL I love dogs. I volunteer to pay for the bone. No harm, no foul.

[redhead]

most Smith’s stores in Utah have entrances with no doors, just a “curtain” of heated air. This would make it easy for a fuzzy miscreant to make off with the booty.

[Man50D]

"I looked at him. I said, ‘Drop it!'" Adamson said. "I decided I wanted to keep all my fingers,

What a wimp! He should have bitten the dog! ;o)

[JoeProBono]

[Bullish]

This juvenile delinquent-ism is getting just so out of hand.

[CindyDawg]

i wonder if he is a service dog who has been in the store before.

[billhilly]

If they can smell human tracks that are days old, well........

[kaylar]

I read a book called K 9 Cops, about guess what, and there was a story in there that blew my mind. A sheriff got a call from a guy who'd lived in the sheriff's town over 20 years ago. The man gave his old address and stated that when he and his wife lived there, she'd suffered several miscarriages, which were buried in the back yard. The man said he now felt bad that the miscarriages were not treated as human remains, but buried like garbage. He asked the sheriff if something could be done.

The sheriff didn't think anything could be done, but he decided to try. So he got some cadaver dogs and their handlers, and they went to the location. The caller had given them an idea where to look in the back yard, but after 20+ years his directions were of the vaguest. But the cadaver dogs found all four buried remains!

The sheriff had the remains given a decent burial, and stated there would be no attempt to track down the caller .

20 years....and the dogs were able to locate tiny remnants of human remains, miscarriages 5 months or less along. Amazing...But that's the information given in the book (which is a pretty fun, informative read).

[fella]

Why that bird’s got a lota gull.

[Napoleon Solo]

Must have had its owner case the joint earlier since he knew exactly which direction to go to find the stash.