Madison police detail how ‘teamwork’ recovered puppy stolen with delivery driver’s vehicle

The driver was picking up a delivery order from Buffalo Wild Wings, 240 East Towne Mall, at about 10:20 p.m. Thursday when two people he didn’t know got into his vehicle and drove away. On the front passenger seat was Malloy, a 10-week-old brown-and-white Boston terrier, police said.

The car was recovered Friday unoccupied in the 600 block of Segoe Road.

Malloy’s safe return was made possible by teamwork involving the puppy’s owners, West Towne Mall staff and Madison Police Department employees, police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said in an update to the original report.

Malloy’s owners were contacted after offering a reward for the missing dog, and set up an exchange Tuesday afternoon at West Towne Mall. Police were asked by mall staff to assist in the operation, Fryer said.

A “puppy retrieval team” featuring Malloy’s family, West District patrol officers and detectives, and members of the Gang and Neighborhood Crime Abatement Team worked together to get Malloy, Fryer said.

After ensuring the puppy was exchanged for cash, they took a juvenile female into custody and she was taken to the juvenile jail for receiving stolen property, Fryer said.

The investigation into the incident is continuing, Fryer said.