Man Charged After Stolen Car With 2 Dogs Inside Recovered, Dogs, Too

EAST HAVEN, CT — An East Haven man was inside Dunkin' for just a couple of minutes when he came outside and found his car gone, with his and his wife's two beagles, Darius and Rascal inside.

This marks the second car theft while canine companions were inside. In the first incident, Leo, a 2-year-old goldendoodle, was found early Saturday after he was stolen along with a car Thursday.

As told by Lucia Palange on Facebook, it was very early Sunday, when her husband Franco ran into Dunkin' Donuts, only to find his car and dogs were gone when he came out.

After nearly seven hours, in the end, cops would find both the car and the dogs after a chase in Milford, but it was people on Facebook that helped crack the case and bring the dogs home.

"The real heroes are right here on social media, too many for me to list right now as my head is still in adrenaline mode," she wrote more than seven hours after the car and dogs were taken. "You are all heroes and angels and prayer warriors. I know without you all my dogs would not be saved."

She shared that the dogs were "found in Milford after a three city chase" with police from West Haven, Orange, and Milford involved. A police chase ended on train tracks around 1 p.m.

Read her full account on her Facebook post here.

And, it turned out that one person who followed the stolen car had video, which she shared.

Palange credits neighbors and residents in myriad neighborhoods from East Haven to Orange, a Dunkin' employee and hundreds of others who joined in the search by sharing social media posts, to help bring her dogs home. Dogs the couple rescued from a Tennessee kill shelter in 2020.

Monday, Milford police said that the car was "spotted by" one of its officers and "engaged"police in a chase. Police said "two attempts to use stop sticks" were unsuccessful.

Police said the suspect ultimately turned into the lot of 322 New Haven Ave., and then "attempted to drive onto the train tracks."

"After numerous commands," the suspect finally got out of the car. Police said he "spat at an officer in the face," was uncooperative and refused to be fingerprinted or photographed.

Police charged Sean Kelly, 52, of New Haven with third-degree larceny, assault on a public safety officer, engaging an officer in a pursuit, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, two counts of interfering with an officer and failure to submit to fingerprinting. He's held on $75,000 bond and will be presented in court Monday.