Police Dog Busted For Stealing Donated Toys In Adorable Video

This therapy dog seems to have a knack for stealing toys

A police department’s therapy dog and resident Very Good Boy is feeling the holiday spirit this season — perhaps a little too much. Officers noticed the toys that’d been donated to the station were disappearing from the room they’d put them in and came to find out it was their furry friend, Benjamin Franklin, that was the culprit.

“We learned an extremely valuable lesson today,” Franklin police department posted on their Facebook page with video evidence of the toy heist. “When you have a classroom full of toys ready to be shipped off to the Santa Foundation, you should: 1. Close the door to the classroom, or, 2. Keep the toys elevated.”

The video shows Ben stealing a cute little doll baby in a car seat (turns out the seat handle makes for excellent grabbage) and running back to his bed under a desk to drop it, tail wagging the whole way. Turns out he’s been doing this with quite a few toys this holiday season, including a stuffed llama and a penguin — and Officer Cusson finally captured the burglary on camera.

Sgt. Brian Johnson, the public information officer for Franklin Police Department in Massachusetts told TODAY that when Ben’s not stealing from kids, he actually spends time comforting kids who are in crisis. “The school resource officer will bring Ben down and as soon as the child sees the dog and we say ‘If you calm down you can pet the dog,’ you can get them to calm down,” Johnson explained. “It’s amazing the effect the dog has.”

No one’s sure what Ben’s motive is beyond snuggling the toys at night or how he chooses his prey. “I’m not sure what his rhyme or reason was, maybe they were just easy and close to the door?” Johnson said. Clearly, Ben’s on Santa’s “nice” list this year and deserves to keep every single one of these toys for himself.

The video of Ben Franklin has understandably gone viral because who wouldn’t take 30 seconds out of their day to watch an adorable pooch pick out a present for himself and seemingly run carefree down the hall, throwing caution to the wind in a building full of police officers?

Therapy dogs are becoming more popular as a way to interact with the community. Dogs transcend cultures, age, religious beliefs, and politics and bring people together in a way humans often cannot. Ben’s still in training to become an official therapy dog and has to pass his certification test in the coming months. Though he may not be the best candidate to teach kids that stealing is wrong, we bet he’ll pass the test with flying colors.