A 75-year-old woman was arrested in Dumpling dognapping. (Video by FOX35)
The tale of Dumpling the AWOL golden retriever took a strange twist Monday when a 75-year-old neighbor was arrested on three dognapping-related charges.
Wayne Dreier, 66, and his wife, Barbara, had hired Celeste "Leslie" Neese to take care of Dumpling and their Persian cat, Sweet Pea, while the Volusia County couple visited their hometown of St. Louis for two weeks at Christmastime, Dreier said.
"We're shocked, surprised, disappointed, hurt that you trust somebody with your pet and this ends up happening," said Dreier, a retired high-school principal who lives in the Spruce Creek Fly-In community near Port Orange.
Deputies investigating Dumpling's Feb. 5 disappearance interviewed Neese, who initially told them she was happy the dog had been stolen but said she did not take him, a sheriff's report states. During a subsequent interview, Neese criticized Dreier and said that if the dog had been stolen, she was better off, authorities said.
Two or three weeks before Dumpling vanished, Dreier received an anonymous letter calling him an animal abuser for keeping the dog outside most of the time. She sleeps on a blanket in the garage.
A Flagler Beach couple turned Dumpling in to the Humane Society Feb. 11, claiming they had found her in an alley, deputies said. Later, the wife admitted that her friend Neese had asked her to take care of Dumpling.
Video from a Walmart Supercenter parking lot in Ormond Beach shows Neese, accompanied by a second woman, handing over the golden retriever late Feb. 5, the Sheriff's Office said.
The Flagler Beach woman surrendered the dog after seeing news reports saying Dumpling had been stolen. She will not face charges, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
Dreier said Dumpling seemed traumatized for a few days after she returned home, but now she is back to romping in a pasture with Dreier's horse, Reba, and enjoying time at home with her family.
The dog was a puppy when Barbara Dreier gave her to her husband nearly two years ago as a 65th birthday present. The dog cost more than $400.
Dreier said he wants to see Neese prosecuted.
"If there's problems, there's a way to resolve them," Dreier said. "Don't go around stealing."
The widowed great-grandmother was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of providing false information to a law officer — a felony — grand theft between $300 and $5,000 and dealing in stolen property. Bail was set at $12,500.
sjacobson@tribune.com or 407-540-5981
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