Delivery driver charged with stealing cat from Carver County home

Stolen cat named Dot
Authorities say this 12-year-old cat, named Dot, was stolen from a Carver County home in October 2019.
Courtesy of Carver County Sheriff's Office

Carver County authorities have charged a delivery driver after he allegedly stole a cat from a home last fall, then released it after changing his mind.

The 12-year-old cat, named Dot, went missing from a home along County Road 127 in Watertown Township on the afternoon of Oct. 10.

Dot’s owner reported that a delivery driver at her residence “appeared to take an interest in the cat,” and that she could not find Dot after the driver left, the sheriff's office said in a statement Friday. "The delivery driver later confessed to taking the cat, but then releasing it, 'somewhere outside Watertown,' after having a change of heart.”

The driver, 23-year-old Byron Thomas Vieau, was charged Thursday with misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor animal abandonment, the sheriff's office said.

Authorities said the cat remains missing. Dot is described as a male long-haired, black-and-white cat. He weighed 14 pounds when he was taken, and has a microchip identifier.

Anyone with information about the case or the whereabouts of the cat is asked to contact Detective Neil Kuhnau at (952) 361-1212.

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