Two landlords from Wisconsin pleaded guilty to stealing their tenant's dog Simon, who is still missing more than a year after the incident.
Susan Haas and Sarah Engeseth admitted to taking the rat terrier from a dog sitter on Halloween last year to Dane County Judge Ellen Berz, WKOW reported.
The sisters allegedly took Simon after a rental lease dispute with the dog's owner, Linnea Sandlin.
“Simon, he was like my child,” Sandlin told the court. “I miss him and love him so much. He never can be replaced.”
John Isaacson told the station that he was caring for Simon at his workplace after the landlords implemented new lease terms forbidding pets.
Haas and Engeseth allegedly showed up at his workplace and demanded the animal be surrendered. Isaacson said they referenced a letter from an attorney and claimed that they were allowed to take the dog to a shelter.
“He's gone because of me,” Isaacson said. “I didn't fight for him. I did what I thought I should have done when they flashed the paper at me.”
Haas said Simon ran away in the Dane County Humane Society parking lot as she was about to surrender him. She said she did not try to search for the dog after he escaped.
Haas and Engeseth were initially charged with felony theft, but the district attorney downgraded the charge.
Despite the landlords' guilty plea to dognapping – party to a crime, Berz did not convict them. Instead, she placed them in a first offender's program. If they complete the program, the charges against them will be dismissed.
“I feel the punishment against them is wrong,” Sandlin said. “It went from a felony to a misdemeanor and now it's probably going to be nothing at all in the end.”
Assistant Dane County District Attorney Paul Humphrey defended the decision.
“It is usual for first offenders who have taken responsibility for the crime to have an opportunity for deferred prosecution,” Humphrey said.
