Stolen puppies found safe in Mapleton park bathroom
For Nate Bartell, his four malamute puppies are like his own children, so when he
returned home on Monday morning after dropping off his son at school, he was
distraught to find his door damaged and his pups gone.
He knew someone had taken them.
"For two days, it was the worst feeling in the world. Not knowing who did it, how they
did it, if they had guns," Bartell said.
He took to Facebook for help with pictures of the dogs, eventually racking up 24,000
shares throughout the week.
The Peoria County Sheriff's Office said someone eventually reached out to Bartell on
Facebook with information of where the puppies were.
After some investigating, the sheriff's office concluded a group of men who had been
working on construction near Bartell's house, drove across his yard, kicked down the
front door and took the pups from the basement, eventually selling one of them.
Police arrested one of the men on Thursday for residential burglary, but the location
of the remaining dogs were unknown until Friday morning.
Bartell got a call from the Paws Giving Independence Organization, who said they
received a tip that the dogs were located in a Mapleton park bathroom, abandoned
but okay.
"It was horrible to hear that they were abandoned but honestly it was the biggest
relief to my ear," Bartell said. "It was like the best call of my life."
The dogs are a rarer breed of malamute and one-fourth huskie, according to Bartell.
He said he was originally planning to sell pups. Now they can get their forever home
the proper way.