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A South Carolina man’s Christmas wish has come true; his stolen dog has been returned to him. Â The dog was stolen along with his SUV from a Walmart parking lot in Travelers Rest on December 14th. Â Since then his owner, Jason Tharpe, has been frantically appealing for help country wide, and friends and complete strangers have been helping out to reunite the pair.
Tharp had left the dog in her crate in the cargo area of his SUV while he went in to purchase camping supplies. When he came out both she and the vehicle were gone.
The dog, a 6 month old german short haired pointer named Lexi, was returned safe and unharmed on December 28th and 2 suspects have been arrested. Â Tharp had used social media, online message boards, fliers, and word of mouth to try and find Lexi, and eventually that led to a tip which led to finding Lexi. Â “Through the help of the community, my friends, my friends online and the online community, we’ve got the dog back,” said Jason Tharp.
Police Capt. John Gardner said it was a miracle that she was found and indicated that the two men arrested were charged with grand larceny. Â “The longer a case goes without a resolution, the less likely that it will be a good resolution. So two weeks is a long time for a dog to be missing. For a dog to come back to an owner, that makes it really special and sweet for them,” said Gardner.
While Tharp says some of the items from the vehicle are still missing, he doesn’t care, as long as he has Lexi back. “Christmas came a little late this year, but it came,” he said.
