Widower, 80, Pays $10,000 Ransom After His Dog Disappears

The voice on the phone was mean and demanding: Turn over $10,000 or the dog dies.

So Frank Compton, 80, a Valley Springs widower and retired fire warden, withdrew a good part of his savings last week in the hope of getting back his beloved terrier, Sandy.

The dog had gone missing the day before, Compton said, and he and a neighbor had tacked up fliers around the neighborhood, about 25 miles northeast of Stockton.

But when he drove to a remote spot along the Mokelumne River, as instructed by the dognapper, a man confronted him with a knife, grabbed the roll of $100 bills and fled without returning the dog, Compton said.

Despairing of ever seeing his beloved 10-year-old terrier mix again, Compton said he searched unsuccessfully along the river near a state fish hatchery before returning home. But hours later, he heard a car door slam and found Sandy coming toward him across his backyard.

The dog was hungry, Compton said, but otherwise none the worse for the wear.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Compton said Wednesday. “You talk about miracles, that’s what this was.”

Calaveras County sheriff’s detectives are hunting for the alleged dognapper and his accomplice.

No suspects have been identified, said Det. Chris Villegas, who is arranging for an artist to meet with Compton to create a composite sketch of the man with the knife.

“We have a few leads, and hopefully something will pan out,” Villegas said.

Sandy disappeared the evening of July 20 about an hour after Compton returned from his usual evening walk with his canine companion.

“He’s never taken off in the 10 years I’ve had him, he never leaves the yard, he’s my little watchdog,” Compton said.

After searching his home and yard, Compton hopped into his pickup and drove around the neighborhood, but Sandy was nowhere to be found.

After a mostly sleepless night, Compton and a neighbor put together the missing-dog fliers that they then stuck on power poles in the neighborhood.

“Nothing happened until about 2 o’clock when I received this anonymous phone call from a man with a [mean] voice telling me they had my little dog and if I wanted him back, I would have to put up $10,000,” he said.

Compton told the man he didn’t have that much cash, only $4,000 to $5,000 in his checking account.

Compton said the man demanded the full amount and gave him instructions to deliver the cash in a paper bag at the fish hatchery near the small town of Clements, about 10 miles west of Compton’s home. The caller also warned him not to contact the sheriff’s office or other authorities if he wanted to see his dog alive, Compton said.

“At first it seemed rather fantastic,” Compton said. “It didn’t seem quite real. You can’t hardly believe it.”

The terrier has been Compton’s sole companion since his wife, Wilma, died four years ago.

Compton said the man called a second time, again demanding the full $10,000, and Compton said he would make the arrangements.

Without calling authorities, he said, he drove to a bank in Lodi in neighboring San Joaquin County where he maintains a savings account, withdrew the cash and headed for the meeting spot.

Driving along the dead-end road to the hatchery, Compton said, he saw two men in a white sedan headed toward him. As it passed, the car made a U-turn and followed him until he stopped at the end of the road.

Compton said a man emerged from the car, pulled a knife and demanded the cash. “He said, ‘Your little dog is out there on a leash and he’s whimpering and crying.’

“When I looked around for the dog, he grabbed my hand and yanked the money away,” Compton said. “Then he and his buddy took off in their car before I knew what happened.”

Shaken and scared, he did not get the car’s license plate number, Compton said. He searched the area along the river but was unable to find his dog.

Thinking that the men perhaps never had the dog, Compton drove to Lodi’s animal shelter, but it was closed.

He then returned to the river and again searched the area. Grief-stricken and exhausted, he said, he gave up and drove home.

An hour or so later as he mourned the loss of his dog, Compton said, he heard a car door slam, and when he checked his yard, he saw Sandy walking toward him. “I just couldn’t believe it when I saw him,” he said.

Shortly afterward, he contacted the sheriff’s office.

Det. Villegas said he understood why Compton decided to try to recover his dog without contacting authorities. “The only bad part is if he had been injured or killed by the man with the knife.... we would have had a much bigger crime on our hands.

“I wouldn’t pay 10 grand for my dog,” Villegas said, “but I guess he felt he had to. It’s all he has for whatever time he has left in his life.”