The man accused of stealing a dog from a car in Cambridge faced a judge on Monday.
Kyle Gariepy, 29, was taken into custody after a 7NEWS crew spotted him walking the stolen dog over the Boston University Bridge Saturday and started asking questions.
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“I’m really sorry that happened,” Gariepy said outside the courtroom. “The dog was treated very well and I’m just sorry that it ended this way. I am. And I feel really bad.”
Officers responding to Memorial Drive around 12:30 p.m. on Friday were told someone broke into a parked car and took a 13-month-old German Short Haired Pointer named Titus, police said.
Gariepy said the incident was all a misunderstanding.
“He was just barking in the car and I walked past the car and I thought it was supposed to be a dog I was dog walking,” Gariepy said Saturday. “It wasn’t a kidnapping it was just a simple mistake.”
Though he says it was a mistake, police say 24 hours had gone by since Titus was taken and he never called them, nor the owner, whose phone number is on the dog tag.
Saturday Gariepy said his phone was broken. Monday he said he lost it.
“I honestly can’t tell you. I can’t even find the phone myself. I thought it was in the car I got the dog from,” he said Monday.
Outside the courtroom, he stood by his story and said he wished he could speak with the dog’s owner.
“I wish I could speak to him now actually. I tried to talk to him the other day when I returned the dog,” he said. “I’m sorry that this happened it was just a really huge mistake.”
During the emotional reunion over the weekend, Titus’s owner told 7NEWS he is just grateful his dog is back home.
“I’m just so glad you guys were there. Thank you,” he said.
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