Johnny Smith faces a felony grand theft charge for allegedly stealing Chancho from a family’s campsite at Campland on the Bay while they were asleep in their tent.
SAN DIEGO — The man accused of stealing ‘Chancho,’ a mini Goldendoodle, from a Utah family in August, was in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing to determine if the case would go to trial.
Defendant Johnny Smith sat in the courtroom next to his attorney while the prosecutor attempted to convince Judge Gallagher that he should stand trial.
Smith faces a felony grand theft charge for allegedly stealing Chancho from the family’s campsite at Campland on the Bay while they were asleep in their tent.
Police said Smith could be seen in security footage walking Chancho out the front gate at 2:30 a.m.
“We were very, very distraught not knowing what happened to our dog and not knowing that he was safe,” said the dog’s owner, Hannah McGuire, who appeared in court online over Teams.
McGuire described a phone call she received from Smith ten days after Chancho was stolen, and after he’d seen our news story on CBS 8.
“He said, ‘My name is Johnny.’ He did confirm that he was the individual in the video that was playing on the news,” said McGuire. “He had told me that he purchased the dog for a sum of money.”
McGuire said she asked Smith if a friend of hers could meet up with him at a Stars & Stripes gas station in National City to retrieve Chancho, even mentioning that he might be able to collect reward money, and he agreed.
That’s when SDPD officers met Smith at the gas station instead.
“We had parked on one side of the gas station and I had other detectives in the area,” said SDPD Detective Nicholes.
“I waited until he was in view. My partner and I exited the vehicle. I said, ‘Hey, is your name Johnny?’ And he said it was and then at that point, I took possession of the dog,” he said.
The judge ruled that Smith will stand trial for felony grand theft, and set the next court hearing for Jan. 19.
WATCH RELATED: CBS 8 reunites stolen Goldendoodle puppy Chancho with family from Utah (Aug. 2022).
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