GLENDALE, AZ — A Valley family continues searching for their beloved emotional support dog Sir Chauncey, who was allegedly stolen more than a year ago from their front yard in broad daylight.
On September 19, 2024, at approximately 6:45 p.m., surveillance video captured a white Jeep arriving in front of the victim's residence in Glendale.
Per court paperwork, the detailed surveillance footage shows a male and female getting out of their vehicle on the sidewalk in front of the residence and trying to call the dog sitting in the front yard to them. The dog does not respond initially and appears to walk out of camera view toward the back gate before returning to the front yard.
The paperwork says the woman is then seen trying to call the dog to her, but it continues to not respond. She eventually enters the front yard and moves toward the dog until she is next to it. The dog continues to not acknowledge her. She then picks Sir Chauncey up and carries him out of the front yard and across the street to the Jeep.
The video shows the suspects conversing with an unknown neighbor walking by, who appears to point toward the victim's residence. Court paperwork says the video ends as they open the rear driver's door of the Jeep with the dog standing on the ground with them, prior to the dog being loaded and the vehicle leaving.
A dog's breeder provided purchase documents showing Sir Chauncey was valued at $10,000, though the family paid $5,300 for him. Initially, the Jeep and its occupants could not be identified and the case was discontinued.
On December 23, 2024, the victim reached out to police with information about a Jeep they observed that matched the vehicle and occupants from the surveillance footage. The license plate was found to be registered to a male subject who matched the appearance of the man seen in the video. Court records say through surveillance of the Jeep, police identified the male's girlfriend, who matched the female seen in the video surveillance footage.
On February 12, 2025, the girlfriend was contacted, read her Miranda rights and interviewed. She admitted to being the female in the video and confirmed her boyfriend and his Jeep were also seen in the footage.
However, court records say she stated they did not steal the dog. She said they were in the area because she was getting her hair done a couple houses away and observed the dog running around the street. She allegedly told investigators she loves dogs and wanted to check on it.
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She said they checked the collar and did not see any contact information. She said they spoke to a neighbor who pointed out where the dog belonged, but thought the house looked vacant. She said they tried to contact the residence, and no one answered. She told police they did not take the dog and left it there with water. She claimed the video should show them returning the dog and leaving without it.
Records say police discovered the victim's video surveillance camera is motion-activated and records for a set amount of time with no further movement. The camera recorded the suspects when they were in the front yard area and stopped recording after they crossed the street to their Jeep, believed to be because they were out of range for motion activation.
The victim confirmed there was no further video showing the suspects returning to the yard with the dog, indicating there was no other time they came close enough to activate the camera.
The suspect faces a felony theft charge with an initial court date scheduled for October. However, Sir Chauncey has still not been found or reunited with his family.
The family continues desperately searching and hoping to find their emotional support dog. Anyone with information about Sir Chauncey's whereabouts should contact Glendale police.
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