GREELEY, Colo. – A Greeley good Samaritan stopped to help a woman stranded on the side of the road, but ended up getting robbed. During the heist, his puppy was stolen.
“He was so cute,” Neal Hefty said of his 10-week-old Siberian husky-German shepherd mix. Neal Hefty couldn’t wait to surprise his wife with the dog.
“Right away, I named him Patch because he has a gray patch right there on his left cheek,” Hefty told KDVR.
The veteran was just a few blocks from home when he saw a woman waving her arms frantically at the corner of Centennial Park and 23rd Avenue in Greeley. It was around 2 p.m. on Dec. 29.
“She told me she was having car problems and she had a little baby in the car. So, I thought I’ll pull in and I’ll see what I can do," Hefty said.
But seconds later, the unimaginable happened.
“Two Hispanic guys come out from behind the skatepark, and one had .38 pistol,” Hefty said.
Hefty said the men demanded cash, which he didn’t have. So instead, they rifled through his SUV.
“One of them starts grabbing some of my groceries,” Hefty said.
Hefty said this was an elaborate scheme to rip him off. Police say the criminals made off with more than $100 in groceries and his little puppy, Patch.
“I cried,” Hefty said.
Hefty is hoping the criminals will get caught and prosecuted for using a baby as bait to trap him, and somehow, he will get Patch back.
“I just want the pup back. I don’t care about nothing else,” Hefty said.
According to police, the suspects were driving a bright green Honda Civic with Mexican license plates. Police did not say which state of Mexico the plates are from.
