Journalist Covering Dog Theft Story Ends Up Catching The Culprit Mid-Report

Updated September 7, 2021

For the most part, reporters will arrive at the scene of a given story after its events have already taken place. Sometimes they can arrive early enough that the matter is still ongoing or be on hand during a developing situation, but the job involves a lot of piecing information together after the fact.

Sometimes, however, circumstances can have it that journalists are not only there right as their stories are brewing, but actually find themselves becoming part of them. This has often happened as a result of working from home as the mishaps going on around them become funny anecdotes in their own right.

But whether the results are funny or simply amazing as in the case of one Boston reporter's chance encounter, it's clear that this phenomenon is just as possible when they're out in the world.

On May 8, police in Cambridge, Massachusetts publicly stated that a 13-month-old German short haired pointer named Titus had been stolen from a parked vehicle.

Twitter | @CambridgePolice

According to People, a news crew from 7News that included Boston reporter and anchor Juliana Mazza traveled to the lot where the incident occurred to cover the story.

While she was delivering her report, however, Mazza happened to spot Titus being walked by a man who closely resembled the person in the surveillance photo above.

Reddit | itoucheditforacookie

After she motioned to the camera operator to start filming, Mazza told Inside Edition that she asked the man if she could pet the dog as a means to get a look at the dog's collar.

When she did so, she was able to not only confirm that this was Titus, but that the owner's phone number was on his collar.

This led her to start asking the man how he ended up with the dog.

As Mazza said, "He said he was supposed to be walking a dog and he somehow grabbed the wrong dog."

Twitter | @julianamazzatv

This led Mazza to ask why he didn't call the number on the collar or the police, to which the man replied that he tried to but discovered that his phone was broken.

But since it seemed that no further attempt had been made over the course of 24 hours, Mazza found this story suspicious and called the police herself.

Sure enough, when they arrived two minutes later, they arrested man they later identified as 29-year-old Kyle Gariepy. According to People, he was charged with larceny of more than $1,200 and breaking and entering a vehicle to commit a felony.

After this arrest took place, police were able to reunite Titus with his owner, Greg Siesczkiewicz.

Twitter | @CambridgePolice

It was an emotional reunion marked both with relief that Titus was OK and excitement that he could see the dog again.

As he said, "I'm just glad that the person came back and I'm just glad that you guys were there. If anyone ever sees this who question the value of media, social media, broadcast media, this proves it."

h/t: Twitter | @julianamazzatv, People

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