Thief steals van with three French bulldogs inside from Kirkland gas station
Three French Bulldogs are back with their owners after they were stolen from a gas station in Kirkland on Friday evening.
The owners, John and Else Whitney, run Skymeadow Farm in Arlington.
John was driving back home from the vet with the three dogs, Socks, Fancy and JonPaul, when he stopped to get a coke at the gas station.
“He was at the cash register, and he saw somebody come in and walk right out and he didn’t think anything of it and the next thing he turns around and the van was gone,” Else said.
She told KIRO 7 they still can’t believe someone would do something like this.
“It wasn’t a dream, the van was gone, with our three dogs in it and the dog food,” she said.
Security cameras caught the whole thing on video.
The video shows a blue pickup pulling in next to the Whitney’s gray van.
Next, two men get out and one appears to go inside the gas station and the other walks around the van.
The man wearing a green coat walks to the driver’s side, gets inside and drives off.
“It’s been a nightmare since,” Else said.
The van was recovered on Sunday by Bellevue Police, but there were no signs of the dogs or the hundreds of dollars’ worth of food that was inside of it.
“They took everything, but they had been smoking fentanyl and drugs in it,” Else said.
Else said Socks, Fancy and JonPaul are all on medication and two of them are recovering from surgeries. All three of the dogs are microchipped.
“I don’t care if they drop them off at a shelter or at a vet hospital. Those dogs, they are part of our family and I need to make sure they’re okay,” she said.
“I have hope because I pray and every day that goes by my hopes are lessened a little but I still have hope, " Else said.
On Friday morning, Kirkland Police said the dogs were back with their owners.
