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Furry crime fighter

Diane Portelli’s pet helped get a theft suspect behind bars early Tuesday.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published November 8, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Martha Rial] Diane Portelli poses with her chihuahua, Timmy, on the front porch of their Old Southeast home in St. Petersburg. Timmy alerted Portelli to a woman trying to steal rugs off her porch early Tuesday.

ST. PETERSBURG — Timmy the chihuahua growls. He barks at everyone. His owner Diane Portelli says he “likes only six people in the world.”

Early Tuesday morning, those traits helped Portelli find a woman Portelli says has been recently stealing furniture — a lamp, a rug — from the front porch of her house at 224 17th Ave. S in the Old Southeast neighborhood.

Portelli stayed up late in her living room Monday night, hoping to catch the crook. So did Timmy, a white-haired, 3-year-old chihuahua just slightly bigger than the “Beware of Dog” sign on Portelli’s fence.

She fell asleep, as did her other dog, a boxer named Chatham. Timmy didn’t, and began growling.

Portelli, 43, brushed off the first growling fit, but looked outside a few minutes later when Timmy growled again and saw a neighbor trying to tear away a rug her husband had bolted to the porch.

Portelli chased the woman to the end of the block before calling the police.

Amy Figlesthaler, 38, was arrested early Tuesday on a felony charge of attempted residential burglary, according to an arrest report. She was being held in the county jail on $5,000 bond.

Portelli said Figlesthaler often walked by her house and stopped to chat with her about how nice her porch looked. It has wicker chairs and a couple of rugs, and a Christmas Tree is already up.

“She never would have been caught if it wasn’t for Timmy,” Portelli said.

Portelli said she’s had other problems with crime in the neighborhood, and she has joined a group of residents trying to start up a new crime watch.

But for now, she has Timmy.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

[Last modified November 8, 2006, 09:23:18]