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Canine Helps Track Down Mail-Theft Suspect

Photo provided by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

Hillsborough County sheriff's Deputy Richard George and his K-9 partner C.J., a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, found one of the mail-theft suspects hiding in bushes after he evaded other officers.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2009

Updated: 02/03/2009 11:21 am

Jorge Malpica

Sean Taylor

Randy Ramos

TAMPA - An accused mail thief couldn't escape the strong nose of the law this morning after a sheriff's office dog sniffed out his hiding place, officials said.

Jorge Luis Malpica, 20, of Tampa, and two other men are accused of stealing mail from four mailboxes on Vista Pointe Drive and Eagle Cove Court today, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

Malpica, Sean Michael Taylor, 18, of Pinellas Park, and Randy Angel Ramos, 18, of Tampa, all are charged with misdemeanors: petty theft, criminal trespassing and loitering and prowling. All were to be booked into Orient Road Jail.

Deputies arrested Malpica and the others soon after 4:30 a.m., when a resident in the Countryway subdivision called 911 to report a suspicious car, Callaway said.

After responding, deputies found the 2000 Saturn in the neighborhood, the three men inside jumped out and ran, Callaway said.

Deputies said they chased after Taylor and Ramos, catching them within moments, but Malpica escaped.

So they called for reinforcements: C.J., a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, and his partner, Deputy Richard George.

C.J. picked up Malpica's scent and tracked him for about a mile onto the Upper Tampa Bay Trail to Waters Avenue, where the dog found the man hiding in bushes, Callaway said.

Deputies discovered the missing mail inside the Saturn, which is registered to Taylor, Callaway said. The mail is in the custody of U.S. Postal Service inspectors to be re-delivered.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at vkalfrin@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7800.

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