Dognappers! 'To put a dog in a trunk ... that alone tells you they're up to no good'

MACHIAS, Wash. -- Police are searching for a pair of dognappers after a pet owner confronted the would-be thieves on Tuesday.

Jim Flanagan says he watched one of his neighbor’s dogs jump out of the suspect’s trunk.

“Car was up here stopped in the road,” said Jim. “I heard them calling my dogs over to them.”

“If he wasn’t here, she’d (KC the dog) be gone,” said Jim’s mother, Carol Flanagin.

That’s when Jim says he made a startling discovery when he confronted the would-be thieves.

“He was trying to get my dog in the car and he put some stuff in the trunk and my neighbor's dog jumped out of the trunk,” Jim said.

“To put a dog in a trunk?” said Carol. “I mean that alone tells you that they’re up to no good.”



Jim says his neighbor’s second dog also jumped out of the car and took off down the street -- and so did the would-be dognappers.

“I was mad as all hell,” said Carol. “To have somebody blatantly take a pet from somebody for something, horrible.”

The Flanagins called police but they didn’t find the crooks. But Jim’s neighbor says he followed the crooks to a nearby gas station and snapped pictures of the suspect’s car.

Now KC is where she belongs, with her family. But Jim has a warning for pet owners along Price Road near Machias.

“People are out trying to get your dogs,” he said. “It’s scary.”

One neighbor plans to install security cameras by the road so they can keep a closer eye on suspicious activity.

The neighbor also said that many pets have gone missing from the area in recent months.

Investigators have not made any arrests in this case.