Santa Cruz Police arrested an 18-year-old transient for allegedly stealing a pit bull puppy from the county Animal Shelter.
Daniel Sciuccheti was arrested at the Homeless Resource Center after a PetSmart employee saw him with the dog by the store and reported him, after reports and video of the theft.
According to police, they found Sciuccheti at the Homeless Resource Center with the stolen dog, in a stolen shopping cart from CVS.
Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Sciucchetti, they said, started out by telling them he bought the dog from another person the day before. When they pointed out that the Animal Shelter had video, he changed his story to state he stole the dog under threat from another homeless man who wanted to trade the dog for drugs. He had a hard time recalling any details about this “mystery” dog smuggler, police said.
He then got verbally abusive, including at one point asking, “Why are you guys (police) such %&@#! to the homeless?”
Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Boots, the dog, is back at the shelter, waiting to be adopted. Photo above.
He was booked for burglary and possession of stolen property. His history with the police department shows he has been cited three times this year for illegal camping.
“Boots” was returned to the shelter….someone go adopt him.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
