A pooch snatched from her family’s yard in Jurupa Valley two years ago is back home with her rightful owners thanks to a Riverside County sheriff’s investigation that also recovered a stolen tractor.
“Sadie,” a 3-year-old great Dane, was reunited with Makayla Farin, Adam Hagan and their daughter, Charlie, on Saturday at the Western Riverside County Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley.
“As soon as I walked back there, she looked at us through the cage and jumped up on it and was just wagging all over the place,” Hagan said.
The great Dane’s discovery coincided with the recovery of an $80,000 John Deere backhoe that was stolen from the Corona-based Atkinson Construction Co. on Thursday night.
Sheriff’s investigators developed leads that the tractor had been left on a vacant parcel in the 8400 block of 58th Street in Jurupa Valley, where a search warrant was served Friday.
Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said that while deputies were preparing to seize the tractor, they noticed the dog chained to a concrete block nearby and became concerned about her welfare, prompting them to summon animal control officers.
The officers, Dane Ericson and Christopher Peck, took possession of the canine and scanned her for a skin-embedded microchip identifier, which returned information on her registered owner, whom the men immediately contacted.
“The owner told us the dog had been stolen two years earlier,” Peck said. “She said her daughter never forgot about the family pet and had been praying, tossing coins into fountains and wishing upon every shooting star that their pet would one day return home.”
Farin and Hagan, along with Charlie, who now reside in Lake Elsinore, reunited with Sadie on the same day Charlie turned 5, according to Welsh.
After stringing a “Happy Birthday” sign near the entrance to the animal shelter, Sadie was brought out and presented to Charlie as a gift, eliciting a shy but joyous response from the child.
Sheriff’s officials said a 48-year-old man, whose name was not released, is suspected of stealing the tractor and is expected to be arrested in the coming days. It’s unknown whether he’s the person who took the dog in 2016.