LOWER PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — This time of year home security cameras can help identify "porch pirates" who nab delivered presents. But one Lower Paxton Township family was shocked when they saw the footage from their security camera of someone nabbing their family dog.
Sherry Bohn had just returned home from her job at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center when she noticed something strange: Sampson, one of the family`s two puggles, was gone. After a frantic car search, she and her husband decided to check their front door security camera, bought just two weeks earlier.
"That`s when we found that someone has taken our dog," Bohn said.
The footage showed at 10:18 p.m. a boy picked up Sampson and walked away with him.
"Just shocked," Bohn said. "Shocked. We live in a safe neighborhood."
Sampson is 13 years old and blind; the Bohns worried about him out in the cold. They quickly posted screenshots from the security camera on Facebook.
"Our community here has been fabulous," Bohn said. "We all pretty much came together to find Sampson."
The post went viral, getting shared more than 10,000 times. The next morning, a couple found Sampson by himself at Devonshire Heights Rd. and Nyes Rd. They recognized him from the Facebook post.
"He seemed very shaken up, cold," Bohn said.
But otherwise Sampson was fine.
The boy in the video, a minor, has been identified, and charges are pending.
Bohn said she was thankful for platforms like Facebook that can help spread a message quickly, and for advances in home security:
"Without the cameras, we would have never found Sampson."