ST MARKS, Fla. (WTXL) — "The Shoe Bandit" has been wreaking havoc in St Mark's, stealing shoes and leaving them around the neighborhood, and neighbors need your help to catch this furry fiend.
- "The Shoe Bandit" is a dog that, thus far, no one has identified or been able to catch.
- He strikes at night, robbing only one shoe from unsuspecting neighbors' porches.
- Watch the video below to learn more about this canine culprit.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For the past two months, there has been a string of ongoing robberies around the st marks area. Neighbors finally have pictures and videos of said suspect and are looking for your help to identify him.
This is "The Shoe Bandit," the four-legged menace running around town. Neighbors say he strikes at night and has yet to stop his crime spree.
"We appreciate the attention to this menace, and hopefully we can put an end to the crime spree soon," said Bart Ash, a neighbor.
Around two months ago, neighbors in St Mark's started noticing that shoes they left outside the night prior had gone missing.
"Well, a couple of months ago was about wearing my shoes, went and stepped in the river, got them all muddy, had to leave them out on the porch. Didn't want them in the house," explained Ash. "And came out the next day. And one was missing. Thought maybe a raccoon. Something grabbed it, looking around the yard, still unable to find that original shoe from a couple of months ago."
Many took to social media to see if others were affected.
After they realized there were multiple victims, they started to try and solve who could be behind this
"Well, initially, we didn't know. Was it a dog? Was it a raccoon? You know, what was it?" said Ash. "And so we just knew there was a bandit out there stealing shoes. So we kind of pretty simple name there. Just went with 'The Shoe Bandit.'"
Neighbors say "The Shoe Bandit" strikes at night and only steals one shoe in his crimes.
One neighbor's ring camera caught the suspect "red pawed" one night, where he is spotted having quite a lot of fun with the footwear.
Ash then reached out to me to help bring awareness and help end this canine culprit's mischief.
"It apparently has been going on several blocks either way for a couple of months now, and when it got to felonious amounts of shoes, we felt we had to bring it to someone's attention," said Ash.
This thief is known to have struck multiple homes along Fire Escape Road to Pirates' Cove Lane, as he says he knows of at least 12 different houses robbed of their shoes. Some evidence of the displaced footwear has been found in the field on Fire Escape Road across the street from the cemetery.
I reached out to the sheriff's office for a formal statement on this furry fiend. This is what they had to say about their investigation into this mischievous pooch.
The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office has received several “reports” out of St. Marks involving a four-legged suspect with a nose for… footwear.
This mischievous pup has allegedly been making his rounds through the neighborhood, swiping shoes from unsuspecting residents and leaving them scattered at other locations. While we’re not calling in K9 backup just yet, we do advise keeping an extra eye on your sneakers, sandals, boots and slippers.
If your shoes have gone missing lately, they may just be part of this furry bandit’s growing “collection.” We’re happy to report no harm has been done—just a few laughs and some puzzled neighbors.
We appreciate our community’s sense of humor as we work to “track down” this playful pooch!
If you know who this adorable criminal is, please let his owner know so they can help us put a stop to his mischief.
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