Cable Guy Caught on Video Stealing Dog from Woman's Backyard
Every television programming service has its occasional challenges with channel access and customer support. Maybe that’s why some folks continue standing by their tried-and-true cable company.
But recently, California resident Melissa Cortez experienced issues with her cable company of an entirely different sort.
The problem involved her 10-month-old pug puppy, Andrew.
No, Andrew didn’t chew up a cable box. He presumably didn’t nip a visiting technician or relieve himself on a truck tire, either.
Unfortunately, the matter appeared to be way more sinister than that. Inside Edition recently shared a troubling video illustrating Cortez’s concern.
The Press-Enterprise reports that Cortez recently returned to the Rubidoux-area mobile home she shares with her mother and sister. She became frantic upon learning that Andrew had gone missing after trotting outside for his standard play-and-potty break.
Cortez had been working at the time of Andrew’s disappearance. The worried young woman searched everywhere, even visiting nearby shelters in vain.
Her persistence was entirely understandable. After all, her mom had given Cortez the super-cute pooch as a 21st birthday gift.
So the family continued asking around. That’s when a neighbor supplied the disturbing surveillance footage eventually shared by Inside Edition.
The short snippet shows a man strolling from a Spectrum cable van toward a residence. A companion video appears to show the same man entering a gate, lifting up a small canine, returning to the vehicle, and driving away.
Allegedly, this individual was a Spectrum cable technician and the dog certainly seemed to be Andrew.
“I was angry and upset at first, just thinking that someone took him, but to see someone who people usually trust to be in their homes felt like an even bigger violation,” Cortez told The Press-Enterprise.
Cortez said she initially tried to report the alleged theft via Spectrum’s automated telephone system, but couldn’t get through. She then contacted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and filed an official report.
Cortez also posted the surveillance footage on social media. Views and shares began quickly accumulating, and Spectrum reached out to her shortly thereafter.
And not too long after that, Andrew was back in his devoted human’s loving arms. He was returned by a Spectrum security employee.
Dennis Johnson, a spokesperson for Spectrum, told The Press-Enterprise that the staffer in the video had subsequently been fired.
“As part of its support of the Riverside Sheriff’s investigation, Spectrum security has recovered the dog and has returned it to the owner,” he said.
Thanks to the resourceful one-woman resolve of Cortez, Andrew the pug is now home savoring overjoyed hugs and snuggles.
It gives a whole new meaning to the term “great reception.”
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