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Dog helps long leash of the law rein in a peeping Tom suspect
Thursday, January 31, 2002 By Ginny Kopas, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
If every dog has his day, Shorty's was earlier this month.
Shorty, an 11-month-old husky mix owned by a North Huntingdon woman, is being credited with helping to crack a Peeping Tom case in a Norwin-area apartment complex.
Shorty was on the receiving end of a game of fetch in the parking lot of the Shrader Lane Apartments on Jan. 16 with his owner's boyfriend when the pup returned not with a ball, but with a wallet.
Shorty's master, Tina Freeman, who lives in the complex, and her boyfriend, Duane Palmer of Bethel Park, took the wallet to North Huntingdon police.
Officers noticed that the driver's license photo matched the description of a man suspected of peeping into one of the apartments on Shrader Lane early Jan. 9.
Police then charged Eddie Gaines, 23, of North Huntingdon, with loitering and prowling and disorderly conduct. He faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 20 before District Justice Douglas Weimer.
Gaines could not be reached for comment, but it is safe to assume that Shorty is not this man's best friend.
Freeman, 23, a hair stylist, said she "rescued" Shorty a couple of months ago from a shelter in Washington County.
"And he rescued me from being lonely," she said.
Freeman said Shorty is a mix of Labrador retriever and Siberian husky. Shorty sports the luxuriously dense coat, curly tail and pricked ears of a husky, but has the vibrant coloring of a black Lab, except for the obviously misplaced white stripe that runs down her back.
And, yes, the retriever comes out.
"She brings back the ball every time . . . of course, this time it was a wallet," Freeman said.
Freeman rewarded Shorty for her police work with her favorite treats -- Kit Kat bars, Beggin' Strips and more games of fetch.
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