Police Collar Puppy Snatchers During Ransom Payoff

Police were not caught napping in the San Fernando Valley when dognapers struck.

When the owner of Ginger Lafitte Rogers set up a howl that the purebred boxer puppy was being held for $250 ransom, officers tailed him to an undercover money delivery where six patrol cars swooped down on the alleged pup snatchers.

“I got my dog back, I got my money back and everybody’s happy,” Darrell Fuqua of Pacoima, owner of the 7-month-old puppy, said Friday.

“I was shaking when I got home (the previous) Friday and she wasn’t there,” Fuqua said. First, he papered his neighborhood with flyers offering a reward.

“Then I got a call, and the kids said they had my dog,” he said.

Five youths set up a clandestine meeting with Fuqua at Foothill and Van Nuys boulevards Thursday, he said. He showed up and flashed the youths several bills that totaled $100. But that was not enough for the dog snatchers, who demanded another $150.

Fuqua said he told the youths he had to run to an automatic teller machine a few blocks away to get the money. Instead he returned home and called the Foothill Division police station.

In a few minutes, Fuqua said, six police cars were parked in front of his house, and the officers heard Ginger’s tale.

An undercover officer played the role of Fuqua’s cousin and accompanied the man back to the intersection, while other officers waited in the wings for the deal to go down, Fuqua said.

Fuqua said he met up with the youths again and told them he could get only $90 more from the machine.

The youngsters accepted the bargain and handed over the dog.

“We walked about five feet, and all of a sudden half a dozen cop cars just swooped in,” said Fuqua.

The officers arrested the five Pacoima and Lake View Terrace youths, ranging in age from 12 to 15, without incident. Four are being held in Sylmar Juvenile Hall, and all five will be charged with extortion, police said.

Ginger has returned to her life of playing with Fuqua’s three children--Antoine, Darrell Jr. and Dione--and rambling around the neighborhood.

“When the guy gave her back to me, she licked my whole face,” Fuqua said, laughing. “I had gotten a pink collar for her, and these guys took that collar off and put a harness with spikes on her.

“She was so happy to get that thing off of her, she just rolled around in the grass for a while,” Fuqua chuckled. “She ate, drank her water, crawled to her corner and just fell right asleep.”