It was a bold move, to pick up a dog off the street in broad daylight and run off with it, especially on Christmas eve. For little Mia Bendrat it was a nightmare, as she came out of a shop with her mother to discover her King Charles spaniel was gone. Fortunately for her and her dog, named Marley, an alert and quick thinking stranger saved the day and got Marley back to her.
Tina Cohen was walking near Union Square when her intuition told her something was not right. A man was trying to sell a dog on the street, on Christmas day, and it just didn’t feel right. “The guy was selling him for $220 and it was terrible to see that little guy like that and they didn’t look like they belonged together,” Cohen told 1010 WINS’ Gary Baumgarten. “There was a guy standing with a dog, a beautiful dog, saying ‘I’m selling this dog,’ you know it’s not his dog, you know it’s a stolen dog.”
So Cohen paid the man for the dog and took him straight to the vet, where his microchip helped facilitate a prompt reunion with Mia and her mom who were beside themselves with joy and gratitude. “Oh my God, thank you so much, because without you this moment wouldn’t happen,” Mia’s mom Angie Estrada told Cohen. “This was the best present ever.”
The whole theft was also caught on a surveillance video, with a man untying Marley’s leash and whisking him away, even as Marley cowered and tried to backpedal. Brad Bacon was later arrested by police and will likely be charged with grand larceny. And meanwhile, Mia and her mother will never, ever leave Marley tied up outside a store again.
