Arrest in theft of Gus, the skateboarding bulldog

CARMEL, Ind. -- Police have arrested a suburban Indianapolis man on theft charges stemming from the disappearance of a popular 3-year-old skateboarding English bulldog named Gus. Carmel Police said Monday that 22-year-old Reid Albrecht, of Carmel, already was serving a six-month sentence on drug charges when he was arrested on the new charges.

Gus disappeared from his owners' front yard on Oct. 6. Several witnesses told police they remembered seeing Albrecht with a bulldog matching Gus' description.

Police say Albrecht told people he adopted the bulldog, but neither the Indianapolis nor the Hamilton County Humane Society had a record of him adopting an animal.

Gus' whereabouts remain unknown. The dog's owners have offered a $4,000 reward on a Facebook page that also features clips of Gus skateboarding.

Albrecht's attorney declined comment.

"I mean, the last thing we thought is that somebody would steal our bulldog from our neighborhood," Christina Kiger, Gus' owner, told CBS Indianapolis affiliate WTTV.

Kiger said Gus wasn't just a pet, but part of their family.

"Not a day goes by still that we don't talk about him and lots of tears shed, lots of sadness in our home," Kiger said.

Gus always stayed in the yard due to an invisible fence system and was never known to escape, the family said.

"It's not just a theft of your TV, or someone coming in and taking your jewelry. It's theft of your family member," Kiger said.

She adds that the arrest didn't bring clarity, and his family is still searching for answers.

"At the end of this is that we get him back, that we get the answers that we need to where he is and that he's safe and that we get him home," Kiger said.

For now though, the Kigers keep Gus' blanket hanging in the yard, his bed on the front porch and a sign by the road as signs of hope.