“We stopped him to ask a few questions, and all of a sudden we realized—that’s the dog that was taken,” Mazza said.
Mazza called the police and managed to keep the man engaged until officers arrived, according to one of her tweets. In the meantime, she was even able to coax him into confessing to making off with the dog on camera.
Within two minutes, officers pulled up. They arrested the man, 29-year-old Kyle Gariepy, and returned the dog to its master, Greg Siesczkiewicz. Mazza described the reunion as “an emotional moment” in an Instagram post.
“I’m just glad that the person came back, and I’m just glad that you guys were there,” Siesczkiewicz told 7News. “If anyone ever sees this who question the value of media—social media, broadcast media—this proves it.”
The dog’s name is Titus.
Gariepy was subsequently charged with larceny of more than $1,200 and breaking and entering into a vehicle to commit a felony, according to Boston.com. However, he insisted that he was innocent.
“He was just barking in the car, and I walked past the car and I thought it was supposed to be a dog I was dog walking,” Gariepy said. “It wasn’t a kidnapping, it was just a simple mistake.”
But officers clearly didn’t buy his explanation. They told 7News that Gariepy had never made any attempt to call the police station or Siesczkiewicz, whose phone number was inscribed on Titus’s dog tags. In response, Gariepy said that his phone was broken.
Titus was reported stolen from Cambridge around 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Later that day, Gariepy was caught on a security camera walking Titus over the Boston University Bridge into the city. On Saturday morning, the Cambridge police department alerted residents to the alleged crime and encouraged them to call with any tips, according to their Twitter account.
“Grateful we were in the right place at the right time, were able to stop the suspect and capture Titus’ reunion with his dog dad on camera,” Mazza wrote on Instagram.
