Pictured: Altadena Sheriff Sgt. John Stanley (we think!) with Sam, one of two crime-fighting dogs who got a workout this morning. Photo by Alan Parks.
by Timothy Rutt
As if Paco or Husky didn't send the message loud enough, add two more pups to prove the adage "Don't mess with Altadena's dogs."
That was a message one suspect received late this morning -- twice.
Altadena resident Melody Comfort says that she, her husband, and son heard their dog, Raven, barking and saw a man with a backpack in their Santa Rosa Avenue yard about 11:10 AM this morning.
According to Comfort, the intruder backed away into a prickly holly bush and prickly fern plant as as the dog charged him. As he tried to free himself, his bag had gotten stuck in the branches, and Comfort said he dumped a handful of items including a screwdriver, wire cutters, and copper couplings and wires, which were later turned over to deputies.
Meanwhile, Comfort's 28-year-old son Patrick Comfort hailed a passing sheriff's car, responding to an earlier call about the same suspect.
According to Comfort, the intruder freed his backpack and tossed it over the wall and tried to follow before she had a chance to let the deputy into the locked yard. As the suspect jumped the wall, their dog Raven bit down on his pantleg.
'Raven the rescued dog from the Burbank shelter for 25 bucks," Comfort said. "She gets steak tonight -- she earned it!"
But the story doesn't end there. Reader Alan Parks emailed us to say that he and his wife were walking their dog Sam on Mendocino near Santa Rosa at about the same time. Noting all the police activity in the neighborhood, including a helicopter, they headed south on Santa Anita, and about halfway down the block "Sam started to act funny." He pulled them on the leash toward a large growth of oleander where they saw a man in a light shirt and dark pants laying face down in the bushes with a bag. They hailed the deputies, who took the man into custody.
The deputy on duty at the Altadena Sheriff's station told us that this was all part of the same incident. No information on the suspect was available.
So when they say Altadena's going to the dogs -- it is.
