‘Pupper’ Helps Lufkin Police Track Down Robbery Suspect

According to a report from the Lufkin Police Department, officers are crediting a 3-year-old Yorkie Schnauzer mix named Cooper with the arrest of a Lufkin robbery suspect.

Around 8:45 a.m. today (8/7), dispatchers received a call from a distraught woman who had just been shoved to the ground by two men behind HEB. They stole $60 from her before fleeing on foot.

When officers arrived and began searching the area for the suspect, they noticed a dog – later identified as Cooper – lingering near a wooded area He was wagging his tail excitedly and attempting to enter the thick brush.

“We could tell from the dog’s behavior that someone was in there,” one officer said. “Without that dog’s help, we never would have found the suspect.”

After the man – 36-year-old Christopher Huitt, of Lufkin – was taken into custody, the woman identified him as her attacker. Her money was not recovered. The other suspect remains at large.

Before being taken to jail, Huitt told officers where Cooper lived. Cooper is Huitt’s neighbor’s dog and apparently followed Huitt when he left their neighborhood on foot earlier this morning.

This is second time in less than a week that Huitt has been arrested for robbery. On Friday, he ripped a purse from a woman’s shoulder near First Baptist Church and fled on foot. Officers located Huitt and took him into custody. The woman’s money was recovered and returned to her.

During his Friday arrest, Huitt was also found in possession of a laptop and digital camera reported stolen earlier that morning from Denum Moving Company.

Huitt remains in the Angelina County Jail on a $150,000 bond.