Theft of two dogs ends with arrest of a man and recovery of the canines, who were reunited with their owner, a St. Bernard firefighter

St. Bernard Parish firefighter Rebecca Stechmann plays with her Mastiff named Stella, one of two dogs she was reunited with Thursday after the dogs were recovered at the home of a man booked with possession of stolen property, her canines. In the background is Sheriff’s Det. Ryan Melerine, who handled the case.

Fireifghter Rebecca Stechmann holds her English Bulldog named Fi, one of two dogs she was reunited with on Thursday when he was found by sheriff’s deputies and a man was booked with possession of the stolen property.

It was a sad dog’s tale of two Chalmette canines missing, apparently stolen. But it ended happily on Thursday with them reunited with their owner – a parish firefighter – and a man seen driving away with the dogs arrested for felony possession of stolen property.

Sheriff James Pohlmann identified the suspect as Jose Garcia, 25, who was living in the 2900 block of Maureen Lane, Meraux. He was booked into the St. Bernard Parish Prison on the stolen property count. Bond hasn’t been set pending an appearance before a judge.

In an unusual case, the dogs, an English Mastiff named Stella and a Brindle English bull dog named Fi, were reported missing on Sunday, May 25.

Garcia was arrested Thursday after he called the owner’s cell phone number he saw on a flier offering a reward for the dogs and lied to her, saying a neighbor of his had the dogs in his yard on Maureen Lane but he was going to jump a fence and get them back for her.

Sheriff’s deputies found Garcia outside his residence and the dogs were in his house at 2905 Maureen, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

The sheriff said the canines, worth more than $4,000 total, were either stolen from a back yard of a residence on Charles Drive in Chalmette, or got out of the yard themselves, then were taken away off the street by Garcia.

Rebecca Stechmann, a parish firefighter who owns the dogs with her mother, looked for them when she realized they were out of the yard and found a woman down the block who said she spoke to a man who had two dogs in his gray Ford Mustang several minutes earlier.

The witness told sheriff’s deputies the man stopped his car on the street where she was standing and asked her if she owned the dogs inside. When she answered no, the man said he would take them to the parish animal shelter, the witness said.

In the next several days the owners put up reward fliers with pictures of the dogs and listing two cell numbers, while also putting out the same information on social media, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

On Thursday, sheriff’s detectives, following up on the initial reports, had obtained a video from a residence in the area which showed the gray Mustang, with one of the dogs sticking its head out the front passenger window. The video was sent to patrol deputies to be on the lookout for the vehicle, the sheriff said.

About 1:40 p.m. on Thursday, Stechmann called the Sheriff’s Office to report an unknown man had called her, claiming he knew where the missing dogs were – in the yard of a neighbor – and that he was going to get them out if possible.

The man, without giving his name, called her several more times and acknowledged only he was on Maureen Lane, Stechmann said.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies, knowing the description of the car in which the dogs were taken away from Charles Drive, were looking on Maureen Lane for that vehicle, the sheriff said.

When deputies found the car, Garcia was outside and was stopped for questioning. He initially said he had the dogs only a short period of time but eventually admitted he had gotten the dogs on the street on Charles Drive on Sunday and intended to bring them to the animal shelter, but hadn’t.

He was booked with possession of stolen property because the dogs were considered stolen when days passed and there was no good faith effort to bring them to the animal shelter or call the Sheriff’s Office, the sheriff said.

Stechmann said she was on the phone again with Garcia when deputies spotted his car and began questioning him.

She said when she arrived on Maureen to pick up the dogs, “I was almost in tears. They are like family to me.’’ She brought them to her sister’s home and had to return to work, Stechmann said.

“It was just good to get them back and I appreciate the job everyone did to help.’’