Dog stolen during Tinder date found wandering Garfield streets

LEONIA — The Maltese pup who was reported stolen after an 18-year-old house sitter invited a Tinder date over has been found and brought back to her family.

The woman told police two men came to the house after she invited her would-be date over, and while one man distracted her the other took the dog, a laptop, and an Amazon package.

According to police, 2-year-old Maggie was found on Monday night by a Garfield resident who saw her walking on the road. The woman, identified by police as Elena Ramirez, was able to collect the dog and call the Garfield Police.

The police then turned the dog over to All Humane Animal Rescue, which is the town's animal control agency, which in turn reached out to a pet lost-and-found page on Facebook, police said.

After the Leonia police were contacted by a local news agency that saw the Facebook post, Maggie's owners were shown a picture of the found dog and confirmed that it was their pup, police said. On Wednesday afternoon dog and owner were reunited, police said.

The police department reported two suspects have been identified and that there is an ongoing investigation into the incident. It has not announced any charges. Police are asking anyone with information into the incident to call 201-944-0800 or email tips@leoniapd.org.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com