Hello and welcome back, readers! This week, CertaPet’s news report is taking you to Mesa, Arizona, where a woman almost lost her service dog for good after the man staying at her house stole the animal. Read on to learn more.
Medical Alert Dog Found at an Arizona Humane Society After Being Stolen
According to Mesa police, officers were dispatched on Oct. 6 to a residence near McLellan Road, where a woman reported that a man named Geoffrey Washington had taken her service dog. She told investigators he had been staying at her home for about three days when he asked to take her dog (named Buddy) out for a morning walk.
When hours passed with no sign of Buddy, his handler got anxious. The woman later received a message from Washington telling her the animal was “ours,” and despite her repeated attempts to get Buddy back, he refused.
Court documents say the owner even offered Washington $200 in exchange for Buddy, but instead of returning the dog, he allegedly told her Buddy had “run away” and said she should “keep the money.” Investigators also noted that Washington sent the woman videos of himself with the dog, contradicting his claim that the dog had disappeared.
The owner told police that Buddy is a medically trained service animal who monitors her blood pressure and alerts her before she faints, a condition caused by a traumatic brain injury. While Buddy was missing, she reportedly suffered an episode, collapsed, and injured her neck.
When the police contacted Washington by phone, he continued to insist that Buddy belonged both to him and his handler, claiming he had purchased the animal from the woman for $200. Investigators say he could not provide evidence of any sale and refused to hand Buddy over, instead telling officers to “charge him.”
A few days later, Washington was arrested in Phoenix on unrelated charges, and Buddy was located at the Arizona Humane Society. He was safely returned to his owner. Court records show Washington first told officers he had lost the dog, then changed his story again.
He claimed to have kept Buddy because he believed the woman was going to “take his belongings” and that he was holding the service dog to get his ‘things’ back. When questioned about the text messages, police say Washington stated he was “joking,” and that someone else had also used his phone to text the woman.
In a statement, authorities said, “The Mesa Police Department takes incidents involving service animals seriously due to their critical role in supporting individuals with disabilities.” Washington was charged with one count each of theft, animal cruelty, and endangerment.
Source: AZFamily
CertaPet’s Thoughts on This Week’s News
This case underlines how vulnerable handlers can become without their service animal support. Trusting the wrong person with a trained service dog doesn’t just risk emotional loss; it can also endanger the handler’s safety and health. For many people with disabilities, protection of their service dog is protection of their own safety, and the law treats it that way, too. This story, besides being heartbreaking, showcases the ignorance surrounding the vital role that service dogs have in their owners’ lives and how not having them near can pose severe risks.
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