Canine sniffs out suspect for 1st Toledo Police arrest

10/29/2013
BY TAYLOR DUNGJEN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Toledo police Officers Joseph Taylor, left, and Jeff Payne got help from 17-month-old Joker to make an arrest on Tuesday.
Toledo police Officers Joseph Taylor, left, and Jeff Payne got help from 17-month-old Joker to make an arrest on Tuesday.

Whatever it was that Buddy Rogers smelled like on Tuesday morning, it landed the Toledo man in jail.

Rogers, 46, of 28 Jervis St., and alleged partner-in-crime Richard Reichow, 40, of 307 W. Manhattan Blvd., were the first to be picked up by the new Toledo Police Department canine units.

A neighbor called 911 on Tuesday morning and watched as two men allegedly broke into a big, vacant manufacturing plant at 3843 Seiss Ave.

Within minutes, police were on scene, and two of the department’s new canine units — who started on the streets Monday — were brought in to assist with a search of the three-story building, said police Sgt. Joe Heffernan.

Officers shouted that they were outside the building and that they had a couple of their four-legged friends with them.

One man, later identified as Reichow, jumped out of a first-floor window and was promptly caught by an officer and arrested.

Mr. Rogers opted for a hiding spot under a pile of debris on the first floor of the building and was quickly sniffed out by Joker, a 17-month-old German shepherd.

Joker’s handler, Officer Joe Taylor, found Mr. Rogers beneath a piece of plywood and placed him under arrest.

Both suspects are being held in the Lucas County jail and are charged with breaking and entering; they’re scheduled to appear in Toledo Municipal Court today for arraignment.

In court records, police allege the men were inside the building to steal copper pipes and telephone wires for scrap.

“These kinds of things are one of the reasons why we got the dogs, for these types of situations,” Sergeant Heffernan said. “It’s better chances of catching people and safer for the officers.”

Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.