Remember Those Puppies Stolen from a Lancaster Amish Farm? One Year Later, A Suspect Has Been Charged

Last April, we learned of the theft of five Labradoodle puppies from an Amish farm in Lancaster County.

Someone had slipped into the barn under cover of night, taken the pups — and also made off with the owner’s “black box” phone and a piece of paper.

At the time, police were investigating, and a suspect hadn’t been named. And that was the last we heard of the story.

Until now. Nearly a year later, it looks like they’ve got someone.

Pennsylvania State Police have charged Jovani Capozziello, 38, of Connecticut, with theft and burglary in connection with the case. He was arraigned Thursday on felony charges.

Here’s how the incident went down, according to reporting at ABC 27:

State Police said the puppies’ owner listed them on the Lancaster Puppies website for $500 each and Capozziello then contacted him through the website.

Plans were made for Capozziello to come to the farm, but when the meeting time passed, Capozziello told the owner he was running late and would be there later that night, according to Troopers.

The owner fell asleep, and when he woke up, he saw his home phone and a piece of paper with Capozziello’s phone number were taken, Troopers said.

When the owner went to the barn, he saw the puppies were missing, Troopers said.

How They Caught Him

If Capozziello in fact did it, I’m going to say this wasn’t the most clever heist.

That piece of paper and notepad ended up leading authorities to the suspect.

They recovered part of the phone number by tracing over indentations left on the paper beneath. The pad was then sent to forensic labs, where the rest was recovered (it doesn’t explain exactly how).

The Lancaster Puppies site also provided an account connected to that number — plus a photo of Capozziello.

That account had 19 different dog breeds listed for sale — which got troopers’ attention as “unusual”. Phone records placed Capozziello near the farm during the time of the burglary.

He has a criminal history as well, which sounds serious – “in multiple states, including Pennsylvania, of robberies and kidnappings.” Bail was set at $25,000 unsecured. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.

As to the puppies, no word on whether they were recovered.

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