A superior court judge decided a former Amazon driver will stand trial for allegedly stealing a dog while working her delivery route in Encinitas.
Dena Vindiola is accused of taking Finn, a golden retriever, from his yard back on Oct.9.
Finn's owner, Denise Reppenhagen, said a neighbor’s Ring camera footage showed Vindiola guiding Finn into her car and driving off. The story spread quickly, eventually helping get Finn back home weeks later.
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Reppenhagen said Finn was mistakenly left outside one morning without a collar.
Thursday, Vindiola’s defense attorney claimed his client was actually trying to help what she thought was a lost, collarless dog, and told the court she even tried to contain him and closed the gate to the yard.
San Diego County Deputy Sheriff Monica De la Torre said she spoke with Vindiola after officers unsuccessfully searched her residence for Finn.
“She saw the dog. The dog followed her to the car. And the dog jumped in on its own. She was going to take it to the pound but it was a good boy, so she decided not to and took it home,” said De la Torre.
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Neighbors who witnessed the incident said they didn’t think to report it because it was not unusual for Finn to roam. It was common for dog walkers and sitters to come in and out of Reppenhagen’s home.
But prosecutors fired back, saying it was clear Vindiola knowingly took a well-groomed, friendly dog from a cul-de-sac neighborhood.
"Had the defendant at any point called the police, left a note, returned to the address, done anything, frankly, the dog could have been returned,” said Deputy District Attorney William Heineken, Reppenhagen’s attorney.
In court, it was explained that Vindiola then gave the dog to her mother in El Centro. But she didn’t want Finn, so he was passed along to a neighbor.
A neighbor’s tip led law enforcement on an unsuccessful search of Vindiola’s home.
Meanwhile, Finn was passed to a church, the pound, and finally, the rescue that reunited him with Reppenhagen in front of a Petco weeks later.
There was confusion with the microchip information. Deputies said the information was incorrect.
This case is back in court in January.
