Woman who thought she was doing the right thing instead charged with stealing dog

A Wake County woman is facing felony charges for taking a dog she found to a local animal shelter. She said she thought she was helping a dog in need, but the dog's owner disagrees.

Joanna Pittman owns the German Shepherd mix that she said got out of her home and ended up at the Wake County Animal Shelter. She said the woman actually knew the dog belonged to her but didn’t return it.

The woman facing felony charges tells WRAL she was doing the right thing for taking a dog in she caught roaming the neighborhood.

Kathrynn Nilsson said she is trying to make sense of why she’s facing felony charges for being a Good Samaritan. Her attorney said accusations of her stealing a dog are bogus.

“Ms. Nilsson was shocked, she was saddened, she was never expecting this, she was trying to do a good deed,” said attorney Ben Brown. “She’s a bit overwhelmed by having to be arrested and taken to jail.”

Nilsson, who works as a dog trainer, happened to be in the Raleigh neighborhood where she found the dog Wednesday afternoon. She said she noticed Nebbie roaming around.

“She was trying to return a dog that she felt was at large,” Brown said. “She did return the dog to the Wake County Animal Shelter.”

Within two hours, Nebbie returned home with her owner, Joanna Pittman. She said Nilsson’s intentions were bad.

“She obviously didn’t take it … she turned it into the shelter but … I don’t … I guess her motives were interesting.

Dr. Sandra Strong from the Wake County Animal Shelter considers this a unique case. She offers advice on what you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation.

“If you’re not sure, you can always call an animal control officer because then you’ll have a legal person on your side as far as what to do with an animal that you’ve found,” Strong said.

The vet from Wake County Animal Shelter says this is also a good opportunity to recommend having pets microchipped to get it reunited with its owner sooner.