Police in Southern Pines arrested two people accused of stealing
a Moore County family’s pet from outside a restaurant on Friday.
25-year-old Lamondrick Blue of Wagram and 21-year-old Novia
Ratliff of Hamlet are charged with larceny of Kodiak, a six-year-old Shih
Tzu.
Willard Hiatt, one of Kodiak’s owners, recalls being
approached by Blue in the parking lot of Kickback Jack’s after finishing dinner
with his wife Teresa Hiatt.
“I was reaching in to get the dog and he says ‘I can get him,’ and didn’t think anything of it,” he said.
The theft prompted a weekend long search from the community
and social media posts shared hundreds of times.
Teresa Hiatt told WRAL a man who lives 40 minutes away in Scotland
County found Kodiak walking a rural road, miles away from where the thieves
reportedly crashed their getaway car.
“God’s good and prayers are answered,” she said. “We
had so many people praying and reaching out to us.”
WRAL News reached out to Southern Pines Police to find out
why the suspected thieves stole the dog.
Blue was taken into custody at the Richmond County Detention
Center under no bond hearing, while Ratliff was taken there under at $5,000
secured bond.
Both are scheduled for a Jan. 16 court hearing in Moore County.
Source link https://www.wral.com/news/local/stolen-dog-reunited-moore-county-family/
