French bulldogs reunited with Oakland owner after money exchange
Stolen French bulldogs reunited with Oakland owner
Stolen French bulldogs Jamón & Jimmy are back home after owner Lynne McInnes, who was offering a no-questions-asked reward, got a call from someone claiming to have bought them. They agreed on a deal. She says she doesn’t want prosecution. Greg Liggins reports
OAKLAND, Calif. - French bulldogs Jimmy and Jamon are back in the arms of their owner after being stolen.
And their owner, Lynne McInnes of Oakland, couldn't be more pleased.
"Jimmy is a little cream puff and he’s 20 pounds, looks like a girl and is super cute, very friendly," she said. "And Jamon is 30 pounds, he’s the blue brindle and he’s kind of like a tank."
On Sunday, McInnes and a couple friends went around Oakland’s Lake Merritt posting fliers of her pilfered pets. She said it’s a place where pet transactions often take place.
After a morning hike on Saturday, she stopped at the Lincoln Square shopping center on Redwood Road in Oakland at about 9 a.m. and left her dogs in the car. She said she went inside the CVS for five minutes and when she returned, her car window was broken and the dogs were gone."
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"I just felt like my whole world collapsed," she said.
McInnes said her dogs are her life, and she was in a desperate frenzy to get them back.
She went on social media, dog sites and issued a pet Amber alert to find them.
McInnes said she thought she got a break Saturday night when someone contacted her claiming to have the dogs and sent her video as proof.
McInnes said a man claimed to have purchased the dogs from someone at Lake Merritt and wanted money in exchange for their return.
"I will give a reward for the safe return of the dogs without asking any questions," she said. "I’m not interested in prosecution in any way."
After making a deal with the person who had the dogs, they were returned Sunday evening.
McInnes says the dogs are neutered, so they are of no value to someone interested in breeding, but they have immense value to her.
There have been several other cases of stolen French bulldogs around the Bay Area, including in San Jose, Castro Valley and elsewhere in Oakland.