FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — From pup-date pictures to radio silence, one Fort Collins woman’s scare with her dog sitter ended with a warrant for the sitter’s arrest.

Thursday morning, the Fort Collins Police Services put out a plea on social media asking for help to find a man who was dog sitting and won’t return a pit-terrier mix named Scholar to his owner named Patricia.

Police said Patricia needed someone to watch her dog Scholar for a short period of time. She found an acquaintance who watched her dog while she transitioned into a house that would allow pets.

That acquaintance could only watch Scholar for a few days, but then recommended a guy named Jesse Beckwith, police said.

“Jesse was doing a great job sending pictures in contact with Patricia and then she asked for her dog back. He either wouldn’t reply to her or ultimately wouldn’t give the dog back to her,” Assistant Chief of Fort Collins Police Patrol Division Kristy Volesky said. 

On March 22, Patricia called police for help. Volesky said Beckwith wouldn’t answer their calls or texts either. Then, less than eight hours after the department posted a plea for help on social media, police were told Beckwith dropped the dog off at the humane society. 

“I have no doubt word got to Jesse because of the work of media and I think that that’s a neat thing,” Volesky said. “He now will go to the court system and he can explain what happened and explain to the courts to the judge what his intent was of keeping him for so long.”

Volesky said theft, in this case, is a misdemeanor crime based on the value of the dog being under $1,000.