Police: Dogs, cat rescued from back of stolen shipping van in East Huntingdon

A traffic stop in Westmoreland County this month helped six pets get back to their owners who hired a shipping service to transport the animals across the country to new homes, according to officials.

Members of the Westmoreland/Fayette/Allegheny County Animal Response Team fostered five dogs and a cat for a couple weeks after state police on July 8 arrested the driver of a van being used to transport the animals because the vehicle had been reported stolen.

Two dogs were being returned this week to their owners in South Dakota. Three dogs and a cat were reunited with their owners in North Carolina last week, said Lori Mozina-Ogurchak, team chief coordinator.

“We have a bunch of people helping us with this,” she said.

The ordeal started when state police pulled over a 2019 GMC Yukon XL with Illinois plates at 6:30 p.m. on Route 119 at Technology Drive in East Huntingdon. Troopers learned the vehicle had been reported stolen in Tennessee and arrested the driver, Kaylon Deon Williams, 28, of Patterson N.J., according to court papers.

Police found marijuana and marijuana edibles in the glove compartment, police said. Williams was charged with receiving stolen property and drug possession and initially was held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $10,000 bail.

Mozina-Ogurchak said the team was called to help and she found some of the dogs unrestrained in the back, along with feces and dog food strewn on the floor. She said the driver was working for CitizenShipper, an online marketplace based in Texas where customers can request items, from pets to vehicles, be shipped to a destination.

In this case, Mozina-Ogurchak said customers requested the animals be shipped to their new homes where the families were moving. The two dogs were being transported from Texas to South Dakota. The remaining four animals were being taken from North Carolina to California.

But there wasn’t paperwork inside the vehicle detailing the animals’ trips.

“I had to play detective,” she said.

Once the owners were tracked down, Mozina-Ogurchak organized two transports with help from Canines Across America and This Is How We Roll Rescuers.

Canines Across America transport coordinator Jean Hruschak organized drivers to get the two groups of animals back to their owners. The dogs destined for South Dakota were staying with her until the final leg of their trip this week.

“It’s just rewarding,” she said. “These poor families put their trust in someone and they betrayed them.”

New drivers with CitizenShipper, whose online slogan reads “Personal Service. Trusted Drivers,” are subject to a battery of verifications and background checks, according to founder Richard Obousy.

The website serves as a platform to connect drivers with customers who post items they need to ship. Customers can then select someone to transport it based on driver profiles and bids.

“Customers are able to scrutinize a driver’s profile, their past feedback and talk with them on our site before selecting them for the job,” Obousy said in an email. “Our easy to use interface makes it easy for customers to quickly review a range of drivers and pick the one that’s right for them.”

In the event of issues reported by a customer during a transport, CitizenShipper will lock the driver’s account and direct them to get in touch with the customer immediately, Obousy said.

Williams told investigators his mother reported the vehicle stolen because he didn’t pay her, according to court papers. Williams did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A phone number listed on his criminal complaint was out of service.

He is free on recognizance bond and an Aug. 28 preliminary hearing is scheduled.