Weird But True

Chihuahua-carrying burglar done in by pup’s bright collar

PINEVILLE, La. — A Chihuahua-carrying burglar was collared after detectives spotted the pooch in its owner’s yard, less than a mile away, the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

Investigators don’t know why the Chihuahua was brought along, said Lt. Tommy Carnline, spokesman for the department.

“We have no clue. We have no idea. People do the strangest things,” he said Monday in a brief phone interview.

But the dog caught the eye of a homeowner who zipped home Saturday to check an alarm and saw someone jump out of his window.

“The complainant described the clothing the suspect was wearing but most noticeable was the blonde Chihuahua dog with a teal green collar he was carrying,” Carnline wrote in a news release.

The suspect was identified before deputies spotted the dog in another yard, he wrote. That homeowner told investigators the dog was hers, and she had been letting 19-year-old Kyle Chase Rabalais of Pineville stay at her house.

Carnline said Rabalais was arrested soon afterward and booked with burglary, criminal damage and theft, and on previous warrants accusing him of theft, criminal damage, forgery, failure to pay a fine and contempt of court — the last because he didn’t show up for a hearing.

He did not know whether Rabalais, who was held in lieu of $27,000 bond, had an attorney.

“This is Rabalais’s 20th booking in the Rapides Parish Detention Center in less than a year,” Carnline wrote.