SLO couple’s car was stolen with their dog inside — but there’s a ‘happy ending’
A San Luis Obispo couple recounted the stressful process of trying to find their missing dog, along with their stolen car, as a “cautionary tale with a happy ending.”
Rick Joseph and Monika Tumbrello said they went through an anxious night after Tumbrello’s 2009 gray BMW was stolen about 5:30 p.m. Thursday in downtown San Luis Obispo.
But they were reunited with their car and dog more than 17 hours later.
The couple is in the midst of opening a new retail bakery shop, Monika’s Macarons, at 1127 Broad St., Suite A, next to Big Sky Cafe — improving the tenant space with plans to open in November.
Tumbrello was in and out of the shop Thursday evening while coordinating with construction workers During the commotion, she said, she left her key fob in the glove compartment.
While she was briefly away from her vehicle, a woman jumped in the parked car, pressed on the ignition button and drove off with Joseph and Trumbello’s 9-year-old dog Cherry inside, Tumbrello said. Cherry is a schnoodle, a mix of poodle and schnauzer.
Tumbrello got a description of the woman from their flooring contractor, who allegedly saw the suspect “casing” the car just before the crime happened. Tumbrello’s purse was inside the vehicle as well, she said.
The couple spent the next several hours worrying and searching for their car and Cherry, Joseph said.
“We wandered the streets and went to homeless camps and creek beds, interviewing homeless (people), looking for clues, looking for our dog,” Joseph said. “Our dog was No. 1. As hours passed, and we couldn’t find her, it was looking more and more grim.”
They posted notices on Facebook, including on a lost pet page and asked for anyone with information to call.
“We went to bed devastated,” Trumbello said.
SLO couple reunited with stolen car, missing dog
But the next morning they were delighted to receive a call from San Luis Obispo County Animal Services that a resident found their dog on Serrano Circle, located a couple of blocks from Foothill Boulevard in San Luis Obispo.
“We rushed over there as fast as we could,” Joseph said. “Cherry was tied to a porch and she had kind of burrowed herself away in a bush. She was scared and just looked like she was trying to protect herself.”
But Joseph said the reunification was “pure elation and joy.”
A few blocks away on Meinecke Avenue, officers found Trumbello’s missing BMW and her purse with $20 missing, Tumbrello said.
Joseph said officers suspected the thief, who had left the car, could come back to the vehicle — and she did, leading to her arrest.
Megan Nicole Parigi, 36, a transient, was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft, animal cruelty and possession of methamphetamine, according to CHP spokesman Mike Poelking.
As of Monday afternoon, Parigi was in San Luis Obispo County Jail custody in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to jail records.
“The woman had slept in the car,” Joseph said. “We cleaned it up pretty thoroughly. But it wasn’t dinged and everything was in good shape and still there otherwise.”
Homelessness in SLO
Tumbrello said the theft of her car and pet highlights the growing problem of homelessness in San Luis Obispo, which she says is creating “safety issues.”
“I think we have a community problem that will take a lot of help, and, as a business owner, I want to do what I can to make this situation better,” Tumbrello said. “I think this woman needs rehab and I hope she gets it. She should go to jail, but really she needs rehab, like a lot of other people who are homeless.”
Tumbrello said that she regularly speaks with homeless people outside her business and believes most are decent folks struggling with substance abuse issues or mental illness.
Social worker John Klevins, who works with the San Luis Obispo Police Department as part of the Community Action Team, told The Tribune earlier this month he believes about 75% of local homeless people have drug or mental health challenges.
The city of San Luis Obispo recently offered services to about 70 people living on the Bob Jones Trail, before clearing out the camps there, and 32 attended a forum with organizations offering help.
Stolen car recovered, pet still missing
Trumbello’s car and dog aren’t the only ones to be stolen in San Luis Obispo in the past month.
On Oct. 2, 19-year-old San Luis Obispo resident Katrina Conley’s car and dog were stolen from the Smart and Final on Johnson Avenue.
Conley said she locked the vehicle from outside and left the engine running to keep her dog cool with the air conditioning on and the window slightly down. When she returned, her car and dog had vanished.
After police arrested a suspect, Mercedes Ruiz, 21, of Castroville, Conley recovered her damaged car in Monterey County. But her Australian cattle dog, Kaia, is still missing, Conley told The Tribune on Monday.
“Police in the city of Marina thought they saw her near the fairgrounds, but I talked to the man who reported the dog and the description was a little different,” Conley said. “I still think Kaia could be in that area, but the last confirmed sighting was near Cal Poly.”
Conley said that she stayed three days in Monterey County, housed by a Good Samaritan she found on Facebook, while unsuccessfully searching for her pet with her boyfriend.
Joseph said he’s extremely grateful for the help of police in finding Cherry.
“We want to make sure to give proper praise and gratitude to the SLOPD and CHP who worked tirelessly on our behalf,” Joseph said. “SLOPD Officer (Hayden) Warner worked a 24-hour shift to help solve this.”
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