2 Year Old Labrador Retriever Key in Retrieving Vital Evidence
His name is Bear and he’s a dog trained to sniff out electronic media devices, including a hidden flash drive that Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Debrota said was vital to the investigation. The 2-year-old Labrador retriever helped find evidence at Fogle’s home in Zionsville, Indiana, when authorities raided the house in early July.
Originating Content: ABC News
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Bear was trained for four months to detect items like thumb drives, iPads and SD cards and so far has worked on about five cases for the Indiana Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Bear’s trainer, Todd Jordan, who works for a company called Tactical Detection K-9, said he chose to train Labrador retrievers for this purpose due to his experience training them over the last 18 years.
“They’ll do anything to please their trainers. They’re so easy to get into a crowd of people,” Jordan said, noting that Bear is a shelter rescue dog.
“A family couldn’t handle him, because he was too rambunctious,” Jordan told ABC News. “They said, ‘I can’t keep him from jumping on the counters or furniture.’ They have to get up on counters, desks and furniture. All the reasons people don’t want them in their house make me want to train them, because they’ll be good workers.”
Jordan said he and Bear didn’t know what they were investigating when authorities asked them to help find electronics at Fogle’s home. He said Bear smells the components in SD cards, iPads and thumb drives.
What’s next for Bear? Bear flew with his new trainer on Tuesday to Seattle, Jordan told ABC News. He was sold for $9,500 to the Seattle Police Department, Jordan said. There, he will work with child-pornography detectives, the Seattle Times reported.
The Seattle Police did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News but told the Seattle Times that they will introduce Bear to the media next week
Originating Content: ABC News
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