Questions remains about FedEx driver who took dogs

Friday, January 9, 2015
Questions remains about FedEx driver who took dogs
Puppies taken from outside a home have reunited with their family but some are wondering why they were taken by a FedEx driver in the first place

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Surveillance cameras caught a man driving a FedEx truck lure Sheila and Bruno, two French bulldogs valued at $2,500 each, away from Armando and Erica Correa's porch and put them in the back of the truck Wednesday.

"Some people may see that and say 'Oh he must have been helping,'" says Armando Correa. "No man. If you see that video, the way he comes in and picks up Sheila, looks in my door and then walks back away from my house, that's theft. He stole from us."

The driver dropped the dogs off on the street 30 minutes away. A woman found them, took them to a vet, and thanks to help from our viewers, they were reunited Thursday. Their story went viral.

While the pups soak up their camera time, the Correas set the record straight on how they got out: it was an honest mistake by a renovation crew.

"It just happened to be that one of the guys left the door unlatched, the big dog pushed through it and these little guys followed behind him," Armando says.

They say they've been in touch with management at the FedEx near where the dogs were found. When Erica Correa sent them video from the camera above their door that clearly shows the driver's face, she says the manager immediately knew who it was and called him into the office. She tells us the driver said he was petting the dogs.

She then sent video from a different angle that showed him luring the dogs and putting them in the truck. According to her, the driver told his manager that he was trying to get them out of the cold.

"I think he put my puppies in more danger than what they were already in, supposedly is what he claims, because he took them and then takes them 30 miles from home and leaves them stranded in the street at night," she explained.

This family says FedEx has not been responsive or accountable.

"It seems to me that when I tried to contact them, they were more interested in protecting their reputation and maybe the reputation of the driver," Armando Correa lamented.

He also says he wasn't going to press charges on the driver if he told them where the dogs were. But that didn't happen.

"We're still thinking about it because his whole way in getting rid of the evidence, he just dropped them off, pretty much left them in the street. Luckily this other lady spotted them on the road and knew right away they weren't street dogs," Armando Correa said.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

FedEx says pending the completion of the investigation, the driver will not be providing service on behalf of FedEx Ground.