LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — For three-year-old Whiskey, playing around in his big yard in Plains Township is finally something he can do again after an unplanned weekend away from home.
On Saturday morning, his owner let Whiskey out as usual. After several minutes, when he didn't come back, as usual, she started tracking Whiskey through the GPS on his collar.
"So I believe my dog was taken off the powerline cause there's no pings along the road, and they took him. When I realized Whiskey was with somebody of how fast he was moving. I had to change out of my pj's, and we were on the tail," said Kimberly Benkoski, Whiskey's owner.
Kimberly Benkoski and her husband searched for hours, trying to find their dog. They used everything from social media, security, and GPS, following a seven-mile trail that went from the Wilkes-Barre area to Duryea.
"They left my property at 9:15 a.m., they turned onto Marcy at 9:27 a.m., and the collar was smashed by 9:32 a.m., and I was on the phone with the Duryea Police by 9:51 a.m.," said Benkoski.
According to court papers, police tracked down surveillance video that showed Whiskey hanging out the window of a car. On Sunday, they found the car, and that eventually led them back to Plains Township and the home of Lindsey Rydzfski.
"I think it was opportunity; you came across the dog sometime between her journey, between here and Marcy Street, and she decided that she wanted to keep it," said Benkoski.
Now, Whiskey is back home hanging out with his housemates, Bourbon and Brandy, awaiting his new GPS collar and tending to the five puppies he shares with Brandy.
"Whiskey every morning, cause I put them to bed and it's in a room when I let them out, he would hop into the puppies and give every single one a kiss and then hop out and go to the bathroom, that's what he did every morning when he had his puppies," Benkoski said.
As for the alleged dognapper, Lindsey Rydzfski, she's charged with theft.
Police say she told them that she found Whiskey on her property and that his collar had no information about his owners. But, according to police, there was an address and two phone numbers that she could have called.
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