Belmont police in dogged search for donation thief

BELMONT — When someone made off with a donation box intended to support Vito, the Belmont Police Department K9, the outpouring of support that followed extended to 10 states and resulted in stepped-up donations as well as an anonymous gift of two large boxes of food and dog toys.

Meanwhile, police have been poring over surveillance video from the local Penguin Mart, where the collection box was stolen on Jan. 18, in order to identify the woman spotted at the counter.

Capt. Rich Mann said there are a couple of people of interest in the case, but police have not yet been able to make any arrests.

The donation box had between $30 and $50 in cash, so it would result in only a Class B misdemeanor, but the outrage it unleashed has people coming together to make up for the loss.

Store Manager Kelly Crowely said that, when she put out a new collection box after the theft, people were throwing in $20 bills, and the donations have continued to come in.

“It was a gift from somebody’s heart to the cause,” said Mann.

Police department employees were surprised when two large cartons arrived, filled with four boxes of premium dog food — 120 pounds of food in total — along with rawhide chews, chew toys, and a ball for Vito. There was no indication of who sent the packages.

“The community loves him,” Mann said.

Penguin support

Kelly Crowely said she decided to put out a collection box for Vito after her own dog — “Mr. J” or “Jack” — died from stomach cancer last Halloween. She had known the 7-year-old golden labrador retriever for two years, and was heartbroken at the loss.

“I had known about Vito, and [K9 Officer] Sgt. Evan Boulanger sent some photos, and I got a lot of comments,” Crowely said of her decision to put out the collection box. “The box was doing phenomenal.”

The police department would periodically come to collect the money, she said, but on the Sunday after the Brown Hill fire in Belmont, she noticed that the box was missing. She called the police department to see if someone had come to collect the money early, but was told they had not.

Crowely said the surveillance video showed that two women came into the store the previous night. First, one of them took the collection box and placed it in the cooler. The second woman then came in to get it, but noticed a store employee on the other side of the cases, and walked on by. Later, one of the women distracted the store clerk while the other casually slipped the box into her pocket.

“I guess the community was just as hurt as I was,” Crowely said. “Literally, that dog was working for food.”

Vito fund

Capt. Mann said there is a line in the police budget to cover the expenses of the K9 unit, but donations help reduce the impact on taxpayers.

The K9 cruiser has special seating and an alarm system to notify the handling officer if the temperature in the car gets too high or too low. Vito, a German shepherd-Belgian malinois cross, is a certified police canine that undergoes continuing training one day a week.

Although there are fixed costs, a local veterinarian donates services and the Agway store donates food to reduce expenses. There also is a collection box at the police department.

Mann says the community has been supportive of the K9 program, and Vito is a popular member of the police force. Belanger takes Vito to DARE graduations and National Night Out, demonstrating the dog’s ability to follow hand commands as well as voice commands, thrilling audiences with his skills.

While the collection box at the Penguin Mart is technically the property of the store until the money is turned over to the police department, Mann said everyone sees it as stealing from Vito.

Crowely said people seem to be more willing to donate to Vito than they are to people in trouble, but as a dog-lover, she can understand that.

“People are donating as much as before,” she said, noting that she now keeps an eye on how much money is in the box, and she calls the department to empty it when it starts to get too many bills.

“A lot of people tell me that Vito should be allowed to make the arrest,” she said.