20-year-old Jessica Setzer pleads guilty, sentenced to probation in theft of chihuahua

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A 20-year-old Milwaukee woman has pleaded guilty in connection with the theft of a chihuahua from a home on Milwaukee’s south side.

Jessica Setzer on Thursday, April 16th pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of intentional dognapping or catnapping.

Police were called to a home near 15th and Becher on January 14th to investigate the theft of a dog. The owner told an officer around 10 a.m., he “let his four Chihuahua puppies outside into his fenced-in yard to let them use the bathroom. The complaint says the owner “saw a white female…walking back and forth near his property.” The owner told police he later saw the woman “reach over the fence and pick up a three-month-old milk-chocolate-brown female Chihuahua with a blue collar.” The owner told police he ran from his home — and the woman “began running away with the dog.”

The complaint indicates police used video surveillance from a grocery store to identify and later track down Setzer.

When officers confronted Setzer, the complaint says she admitted to taking “the Chihuahua puppy but that she did not reach over the fence and take the dog; rather the dog followed her out of the yard.”

On Thursday, Setzer was sentenced to seven months in the House of Correction with Huber release for work and school -- but the court stayed that sentence and Setzer was placed on probation for one year.

She must undergo a mental health evaluation, maintain absolute sobriety, seek and maintain employment, have no contact with the victim in this case, obtain a high school diploma, and she may not own, possess or train any animal for one year. Any violation of her probation will result in 30 days conditional time.