Police: Woman took cat hostage to get dog

GREENACRES, Fla., July 1 (UPI) -- A Greenacres, Fla., woman allegedly kidnapped a family's cat after they refused to return a dog they adopted that the woman had previously owned, police said.

Investigators said Linda Urioste's black Labrador, Scooby, was picked up by Animal Control in May and was adopted five days later by Jutta Hollar and her husband, WPBF-TV, Palm Beach, Fla., reported Tuesday.

Hollar said she considered returning the dog, now named Buddy, to Urioste after the woman stopped by Animal Care and Control to look for him, but she and her husband decided to keep Buddy after the woman was "very rude and yelled at us and treated us really not very nice" during a meeting.

She said her cat, Mitz, went missing a few days after the meeting and she soon received a phone call from Urioste stating that she had the cat. Police said Urioste admitted to having the cat but refused to return it unless Hollar gave her the dog.

Urioste was arrested and charged with theft and extortion. Mitz was returned safely to her family.