Dognapper Jailed, but Pet’s Fate Still Mystery

Doggone it. The dognapper’s in jail, but the dog’s still gone.

That’s the way it seems as Lawndale resident Edie Warwick settles in for a five-month jail sentence--two years after being convicted of theft in the disappearance of a neighbor’s furry black mutt.

Still missing is Cassie, the 5-year-old chow mix that triggered the neighborhood dispute in 1994 when she wandered out of her owner’s yard and ended up at Warwick’s house.

Warwick took the animal in and put its description in the “found” column of the local newspaper. When dog owner Joseph French spotted the ad, he came right over.

But Cassie didn’t leap joyfully into French’s arms, according to Warwick. And when French could only show a tiny snapshot of the dog as proof of ownership, Warwick refused to release Cassie on grounds the dog was not his.

What happened after that is a tail-wagging soap opera that has kept tongues wagging in Lawndale.

An outraged French promptly called sheriff’s deputies. A friend of Warwick--who at the time was a Lawndale planning commissioner--called the mayor.

Within hours, sheriff’s deputies, Mayor Harold Hofmann and Councilman Larry Rudolph--who had appointed Warwick to the commission--were trying to persuade Warwick to let the dog go. She refused.

Deputies tried to persuade Warwick to turn the dog over to the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals until the ownership issue could be resolved. She still refused.

Within days, Warwick was charged with theft and with interfering with a police investigation. But before the case got to court, Cassie disappeared again.

By now Warwick had renamed the dog Lady. She told investigators that Lady had escaped from her backyard. French accused Warwick of hiding the animal.

When deputies learned that Cassie was actually at a Torrance kennel, they tacked on a new charge to the case: Filing a false police report. A kennel worker had called authorities after recognizing Cassie from a newspaper story. Warwick had signed the kennel register “Cruelly Derille”--a reference to the Disney “101 Dalmatians” character Cruella De Vil.

But Cassie and “Cruelly” both disappeared before deputies reached the kennel.

Soon after, Lawndale officials kicked Warwick off the Planning Commission. And a month after the dog caper began, Warwick surrendered at the Lennox sheriff’s station and was released on bail.

When the case went to trial in February 1995, the jury could not reach a verdict. The charge of interfering with police was dropped, however. At a second trial, Warwick was found guilty of misappropriating found property.

Warwick was sentenced by South Bay Municipal Court Judge Josh Fredricks to six months in jail, three years probation and a $1,500 fine or 310 hours of community service.

But Fredericks agreed to reduce her jail time to 30 days if she brought Cassie to court two days later. Warwick and Cassie were no-shows on July 27, 1995, however.

Imposition of the sentence was delayed while Warwick appealed her conviction and continued to tend to Cassie at her home. The dog was not there, however, when Warwick was finally sentenced Thursday.

Officials estimated that the court cases had cost taxpayers $100,000.

Husband Don Warwick, a concrete-cutting contractor, declined Friday to say where the dog is.

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But he acknowledged that the case has been costly. “It’s ruined our life for three years. This has cost us $20,000, my wife’s day-care business, her reputation,” Don Warwick said.

Warwick said Judge Fredricks never ordered the dog turned over. Now that his wife has been sentenced, it’s too late, he said.

Warwick’s lawyer, Michael Rotsten, agreed. All that can happen now is that an extra month could be added to Warwick’s jail term when a probation hearing is held Sept. 23, he said.

“To this very moment, the defendant has no obligation to the Frenches in terms of giving them the dog,” Rotsten said. “No court ever commanded her to turn over the dog.”

Prosecutor Ted Lamb--who said after the sentencing that “the system failed the French family”--did not return repeated phone calls.

But Sheriff’s Det. Hector Garcia said authorities still intend to return Cassie to the Frenches.

“We have no idea where the dog is,” Garcia said. “If we find out, we’ll take some action. It’s property that doesn’t belong to her.”