Daddy the dognapper
 

Daddy the dognapper
Cops say pup was stolen by Deer Park man after 'lapse in judgment' during day trip with daughter
BY JOSEPH MALLIA AND WIL CRUZ
Newsday Staff Writers

March 28, 2006

He made a tiny Chihuahua into a media celebrity when police say he dognapped her from a West Islip pet store.

Then, after he repented and returned the 2-pound, $1,600 dog to the police with an anonymous tip, he sparked the interest of families who wanted to buy Georgie, the photogenic puppy.

Now the alleged thief, Nicholas Savoia, 27, is in the doghouse, accused of larceny while on a "Daddy-daughter" excursion with his toddler in his arms.

Savoia, of 162 Claremont St., Deer Park, admitted after his arrest that he stole the dog by shielding the animal from sight behind his daughter's body, police said.

"Basically, he was telling us he was going to take his daughter to Chuck E. Cheese, it was a Daddy-daughter day, and he just apparently had a lapse in judgment there," Third Squad Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman said. A Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant is just across Sunrise Highway from the pet shop.

"The defendant was with his daughter to steal a puppy," Assistant District Attorney Michelle Pitman said in court Monday.

Tracked down by detectives after the store's security video camera caught him, his daughter and his vehicle on tape, Savoia was arraigned Monday in First District Court in Central Islip on a grand larceny charge, pleading not guilty. He faces a maximum of 11/3 to 4 years in prison.

He was released on $500 cash bail and left the courthouse with a sweater over his head, declining to comment. Savoia is due back in court tomorrow.

His lawyer, Craig Fleischer of Islandia, said, "All I can say is that there are some important facts that have not come out in this case. They will be revealed at the appropriate time."

The store camera captured images of Savoia's 1998 GMC Yukon as he was leaving the BTJ's Jungle Pet Shop parking lot with the dog at around 4 p.m. on March 17, police said.

That narrowed the field of suspects as tips came in from the public.

Savoia's mother saw a news broadcast of the videotape, and she alerted her son, police said.

Then he anonymously telephoned the police early on a Sunday morning two days after the theft, telling them the dog was in a basket at a Deer Park baseball field, police said.

"Intense media coverage helped him change his mind and put the dog in that location," Groneman said.

The Gambuzza family of Lindenhurst later bought the dog, renaming her Margarita Corona.


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Glad no one was hurt! Sounds like he was probably getting it for his daughter, thank goodness he came to his senses.