WINNIPEG – Police have arrested a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy for allegedly stealing an ambulance-style vehicle full of bedbug sniffing dogs in January.
The vehicle was left locked and running outside a Pembina Highway hotel so 10 detection dogs would have a warm place to sleep. James Artibello, who owns A-scent K-9 Detection Service in Toronto, had brought the dogs to Winnipeg to work here and was lodging the animals in the truck while he slept in the hotel.
READ MORE: Owner reunited with stolen bedbug sniffing dogs in Winnipeg
Police were called by a St. Vital homeowner about dogs running loose at 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 19. They soon found out a vehicle full of dogs had been stolen earlier in the day. Eventually all 10 dogs were rounded up and returned to Artibello, and his vehicle was found in an inner city alley in the afternoon.
“They saw an opportunity and I don’t think they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into, because the dogs were let out periodically as they drove around, and I think the dogs were left at different locations,” Const. Jason Michalyshen said Friday.
Police arrested a 15-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl Tuesday. The girl is charged with stealing a motor vehicle and abandoning an animal, and the boy is charged with possessing property obtained by crime.
READ MORE: Bedbug detecting dogs back at work
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