Las Vegas Family's Elderly Yorkie Vanishes in 60 Seconds, Then the Scam Texts Start

A Las Vegas family is pleading for help after surveillance video appeared to show a woman walk up to their front yard, scoop up their 12-year-old Yorkie and drive off with him in under a minute. Ricky, described by his owners as elderly, fragile and recently recovered from a neck injury, was seen leaving the home around 8:22 p.m. on August 22, and he has not been seen since.

Ricky's owner, Natasha Veiga, filed a report with Las Vegas Metro Police on August 24, according to KLAS 8 News Now. Veiga said the gate latch to their home did not lock properly and popped open, and she did not notice it had swung open before Ricky slipped out. Per the surveillance footage, an older model four-door black sedan pulled up near the home, and a woman got out, approached Ricky, appeared to pick him up and drove away with him.

The woman was described, per the video, as heavy-set with long purple or red braids. Veiga said Ricky was gone in 60 seconds. Co-owner Scott Reynolds is also asking for the community's help finding the dog.

A Fragile Senior Dog With One Key Identifying Mark

Veiga and Reynolds say Ricky is friendly but was specifically trained not to wander into the road, which makes his sudden disappearance from the yard even more alarming to them. He also urinates frequently, a detail his owners have shared publicly as part of identifying him. Veiga said Ricky has an identifying skin tag between his eyes, a marker that lost-pet safety guidelines from the Better Business Bureau recommend owners hold back from public flyers specifically so they can use it to verify that a caller genuinely has possession of the animal before any money or meeting changes hands.

Veiga's greatest fear centers on Ricky's health. He recently recovered from a neck injury, and she has expressed concern that his neck could be reinjured if he is handled roughly or abused while missing. That anxiety fits a broader pattern nationally: the American Kennel Club's tracking data shows small toy breeds like Yorkshire Terriers are among the most frequently stolen dogs in the country, largely because their compact size makes them easy to grab and quickly resell.

Scammers Flood Family With Fake Ransom Demands

Almost as soon as the family went public, Ricky's owners say they were hit with a large number of texts from people claiming to have him. The senders have demanded payment before offering any proof that they actually have the dog, and Veiga and Reynolds now suspect the messages are coming from scammers rather than anyone with real information. That suspicion lines up with warnings from the Federal Trade Commission, which has cautioned that scammers routinely monitor public lost-pet postings and flyers to target distressed owners, often demanding digital payments or gift cards while refusing to send photographic proof.

The family is urging anyone with genuine information about Ricky's whereabouts to come forward, and they are asking other pet owners to double-check their gates and locks after their own latch failure let Ricky out. The station reports it has reached out to police about the incident and plans to update the story once officers respond.

How Nevada Law Treats a Stolen Pet

Under Nevada law, dogs and other domesticated animals are classified as personal property rather than being covered by kidnapping statutes, according to the Animal Legal & Historical Center. That means if a suspect is identified, prosecution would hinge on the dog's monetary value: stealing property or an animal worth under $1,200 is petit larceny, a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines, while a pet valued at $1,200 or more can trigger felony grand larceny charges, per Justia Law. Separately, Nevada Revised Statute 41.740 allows pet owners to recover veterinary costs, lost market value and attorney's fees, capped at $5,000 per pet, if someone intentionally or recklessly injures or kills another person's animal, according to the Animal Legal & Historical Center.

The odds of a full recovery remain daunting. Legal and animal welfare organizations estimate that roughly 2 million domestic dogs are stolen nationwide each year, and only about 6% are ever reunited with their original owners, according to LegalMatch. Experts also point to microchipping as the most reliable long-term recovery tool; the American Kennel Club and AKC Reunite emphasize that keeping registration details current in national databases gives owners the best shot at identifying a stolen or missing pet if it resurfaces.

Ricky's case echoes another Las Vegas pet theft from last year, when a local woman begged for help finding her stolen Akita after surveillance footage caught the puppy being taken from inside her running Tesla. For now, Veiga and Reynolds are holding onto hope that someone in the community recognizes the sedan, the woman with the braids, or Ricky himself, and that Metro Police can turn the surveillance video into a lead.