Hours after news thatDuane “Dog” Chapman‘s late wife Beth’s belongings were stolen duringa burglary at their store, the bounty hunter is speaking out.
Dog, 66, took questions from the press, and was asked why he felt it was important to show up for the conference.
“Well, it’s important for me to be here because it was our building, it was actually my wife’s,” he said. “My message to the guy is, if you turn yourself in within the next 48 hours, I will not press charges. I will try to get you probation, a job … ’cause me and you got a special connection now.”
Continued Dog, “but if you don’t, there will be no mercy. I am not OJ Simpson, so I’m not gonna do this myself. … I’ve been across the nation, captured fugitives, and Colorado, especially this county, is one of the greatest, and some of the best cops in the country. They work overtime without getting paid, and they do a lot of stuff without getting paid.”
The reality star explained that the Colorado police already had some “really good leads,” and said that the culprit has “48 hours to ask for forgiveness,” adding that he would forgive if that happened.
Dog said of the robbery, “this hits home pretty bad,” and explained that “a lot of stuff is missing.”
“We had this 15 years, like I said, it was Beth’s,” he said. “We just canceled, we were doing an inventory as this was going on, so thank God we had a list. Cops have been here trying to see who was inside the building, when usually it’s only open during the day. We’ve got a list, a lot of stuff is missing,” he said. “I had a lot of Beth’s bounty gear here, and all that’s gone. Some of her personal stuff was here, all of that is gone.”
Of the stolen property, Dog said if he could get one item back, it would be Beth’s “taser.”
“Only time does healing. The good outweighs the bad, though,” he added, before telling reporters that he “cried” upon hearing news of the robbery.
“I’ve trusted these cops for 35 years, and I keep hearing God tell me, ‘Put your faith in the cops and don’t do nothing yourself.’ So thank you all very much, love you all very much,” he concluded.
Edgewater Police DepartmentCorporal Bob Brink, a public information officer, told PEOPLE earlier Friday that an individual on Dog’s team went to the store in Edgewater, Colorado, for business-related reasons on Thursday and encountered the crime scene, but police were first notified of a break-in on Tuesday around 1 a.m. local time.
“We got a report from a citizen that there was a broken-out front door,” Brink said. “Last night, a representative from [Dog’s team] did give us a call and said there was some missing merchandise, as well as other items of personal value, so we’re following up on a couple leads.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, the Chapman family confirmed that “the official Dog and Beth merchandise store was robbed on Thursday.”
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RELATED VIDEO: Dog the Bounty Hunter Says Beth Chapman Told Him ‘Let Me Go’ in Final Moments Before Death
Sources toldThe Blastthat thousands of dollars in merchandise, family keepsakes and some of Beth’s personal property had been taken.
According toThe Blast, Beth’s items had been on displayas a memorial to the late reality star. (Beth, who wasdiagnosed with stage II throat cancerin September 2017, died on June 26 at the age of 51.)
“The Bible says it is an unforgivable sin to steal from the dead,” Dog, 66,wrote early Friday morning, on a retweet ofThe Blast‘s story. “LARGE CASH REWARD FOR ANY INFORMATION FIR WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS !!!”
source: people.com
