Suspected serial dognapper arrested

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Deputies believe they've arrested a serial dognapper.

They say she was caught in act, then tried to get rid of the evidence by throwing the two stolen puppies out of the window of her car.

Now Moriarty residents can rest easier after they'd been plagued with dogs disappearing for awhile.

The suspect? -- A self-proclaimed animal rights activist.

Reports of missing dogs had been filing into the Torrance County Sheriff's Office for two years.

"Dogs were disappearing from locked kennels, inside peoples residences and in locked fenced areas," said Sheriff Heath White.

Sheriff White says the one thing the cases have in common is 59-year-old Debra Swenerton.

"She believes in her world that these dogs are being abused," he explained. "These dogs are not being abused. They are being kept and cared for."

Investigators think she's responsible for more than 60 dog thefts. They say Swenerton had been sending letters to the Sheriff's Office complaining about how dogs were being treated. Some of those dogs would vanish, but until today they didn't have any concrete evidence of who was responsible.

"We got a 911 call that a lady was inside the victims house and had stolen her two animals," Sheriff White explained.

The victim said as she pulled up to her Moriarty home, Swernerton sped off with her six month old pit bull puppies. What the victim said the animal rights activist did next, to get rid of the evidence, is shocking.

"The victim followed while talking to us on 911 and that's when she saw the window, the drivers side window, come down and the dogs come out one at a time and hit the ground," said the Sheriff.

The dogs survived their high-speed impact with the asphalt and Sheriff White hopes Swenerton's arrest is the end of the dognappings.

Swenerton faces multiple charges including burglary and animal cruelty.

She has a website where she claims she rescues dogs from un-livable conditions. She also claims she used to work for Albuquerque Public Schools.

Deputies believe she either adopts out the stolen dogs or takes them to a no-kill shelter in Colorado.