KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) said it is looking into a "unique" case of a stolen cat in the Fountain City neighborhood.
Justin Cummings said his cat, Lulu, disappeared on the week of August 7.
"We let her out to use the restroom like she usually does for about an hour and she normally is either like meowing at the door or comes back right away when we call her and she was nowhere to be found," Cummings said. "So I spent the whole night walking around the neighborhood calling her name looking for her and nothing."
Cummings explained Lulu has a pink collar with his phone number on it, so he was expecting to hear from the person who would eventually find her, and he did. He said he was shocked by the text message he got.
"The next morning I got a text from a random number saying that they had found her on their front porch," Cummings said. "And they said they might just keep her because it was their daughter's birthday."
Cummings said they texted him a street address, but he went, knocked on doors and found out no one who lives there have children.
"I feel like, since I know she is close by, I cannot just, like, stop looking for her," Cummings said. "So I have been going around talking to all the neighbors, giving them flyers, asking anyone if they have seen anything."
KPD is currently working with the company that owns the phone number that texted Cummings to try to find out where the text messages came from.
A spokesperson with KPD said, as of now, there have been 16 total theft reports for the entire year where it was reported that a pet was possibly stolen. They said, if they do find the person who stole Lulu, they are probably looking at a misdemeanor theft charge.
Cummings is offering a $500 reward for Lulu's return. Anyone with information is encouraged to reach out at 865-463-1132.