Ay, Chihuahua!

KINGMAN – A judge on Monday ordered the return of two Chihuahuas taken in front of Walmart some seven months ago.

The case stemmed from an incident Jan. 24, in which a couple approached a pair of 7-year-old twins about the Chihuahuas they were holding in front of the store. The children had accompanied their mother, Rozmeree French, to Walmart to show the puppies to a family friend.

French said she was in the store for around a minute and was on her way out when her children came in telling her that a couple had given them $35 in exchange for the two pure-breed puppies.
The dogs were for sale, but for $125 for the male and $150 for the female. French said that she already had a buyer lined up for both, and that she and her children had only gone to the store to show them to a friend before they were sold.

French filed a police report for theft and publicized the case. A woman later recognized the puppies Feb. 16 after they had been brought to the Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic.

The woman who had purchased the puppies, Shelly Copisa, testified that she saw the children in front of Walmart and assumed that they had been tasked with selling the dogs. She said she and her ex-husband, who was with her at the time, gave the children all the money they had on them. When she later learned that she was being accused of theft, Copisa said she tried to negotiate a deal with French without success.

(bron)