Dognapping suspect nabbed

Keith Paul

Monday, April 24, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

An extortion plot involving a California woman's $2,000 Scottish terrier was foiled last week by police in Jean with the help of poor planning by the accused dognapper.

Jimmy McMinn apparently had two chances to pull off his plan, but the 63-year-old fouled up by registering in his own name at the Gold Strike hotel-casino while police from two states were waiting for him.

McMinn is charged with stealing a minivan and a $2,000 Scottish terrier named KiKi from a 72-year-old Santa Maria woman who hired him as a live-in caregiver.

On Thursday Metro Police went to the Gold Strike and found McMinn in a room. The 7-year-old dog was found in reasonable health in the stolen minivan in the hotel's parking lot, Metro Officer Richard Staley said.

"The dog was fine. It didn't have any water inside the van, but was happy as heck to see its owner," he said.

McMinn faces charges filed in California by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office on auto theft, extortion, elderly abuse and dog theft. He was held in the Clark County Detention Center this morning pending an extradition hearing set for Tuesday.

KiKi had been missing for weeks, and the dog's owner, Mary Anderson, tried twice to pay to get her dog back.

Anderson came back from a stay in Florida for a couple of months at the end of March to find her minivan, caregiver and dog missing. Police say she got a call telling her she could have her dog back in exchange for $15,000.

McMinn is charged with making the extortion call. Police say he didn't show up at the first meeting. Another meeting was set up, this time in Las Vegas. Anderson flew to Las Vegas, but once again the person with her dog didn't show up.

Dejected after another failed attempt to get her dog, she flew home and on April 5 she called police.

McMinn is accused of trying to set up a third meeting to exchange the dog for cash, but this time Santa Barbara County detectives were tracing his calls.

"We determined he was at the Gold Strike. He was registered there, but we missed him by one day," Detective Eric Koopmans of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said.

Apparently McMinn didn't know that the police were after him. Police discovered he had a reservation -- in his own name -- for the next week.

So on Thursday Metro Police went to the Gold Strike and arrested McMinn without incident and recovered Anderson's beloved KiKi.

"She was just elated, so happy," Koopmans said. "She broke down and cried."

And McMinn faces serious charges once he gets sent back to California.

"We had been working on this case for a couple of weeks." Koopmans said. "It helps when the criminals aren't real smart."

Keith Paul covers crime and public safety for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4057 or by e-mail at keith@lasvegassun.com.