The incident, which happened last Sunday, was only made public by the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence gendarmerie this Thursday. Late in the afternoon, a man walked into the station in Annot, a peaceful village north of Cannes in France. On the end of his lead, he had a Belgian Shepherd Malinois.
In front of the officers, the man played the part of a model citizen acting in absolute good faith. He claimed he had only just found the dog by the side of the road, clearly abandoned by its owner. To make his story more believable, the man made a point of expressing his outrage to the officers about “this unacceptable act”, strongly insisting that whoever was responsible for such cowardice “deserved to be heavily punished”.
The perfect suspect was already at the station
Praising his public-spirited action, the officers took the animal into safe custody and launched an investigation immediately to identify the irresponsible owner. Thanks to routine checks and identification databases, it did not take long for the officers to track down the owner.
What they discovered left the station in complete shock. The database pointed to one single culprit, whom the officers actually knew very well... as it was the exact same man who had brought them the Malinois just a few hours earlier.
The truth comes to light
The liar was brought back to the gendarmerie station immediately, but this time, he was headed straight for the cells. During his questioning, the fake Good Samaritan confessed quickly that he was indeed the dog's owner. He admitted to both abandoning the animal and making a false report. This double offence means he has been summoned to appear before the judicial court of Digne-les-Bains on 27 November, where he faces heavy fines and criminal penalties.