Lost dog + extortion attempt = sex offender behind bars

OK, now we've heard it all.

Some guy who found a lost cocker spaniel-toy poodle mix named Pineapple calls the owner listed on the dog's ID tag and allegedly asks for sex in exchange for giving the dog back untortured.

Dude.

Turns out the suspect, Alfredo Dempkey, 27, is a registered sex offender in Hawthorne. He's headed for court this afternoon on extortion charges (watch for an update tomorrow on the arraignment at www.dailybreeze.com or buy Wednesday's paper) and Pineapple is safely back home with her 17-year-old owner who had the presence of mind to call her dad and the police when she received the telephone threat (he told the girl he would torture and make her dog suffer if she didn't comply)..

You can read the full story by crime reporter Larry Altman in today's Daily Breeze. 

"I think someone like that is sick," Pineapple's owner told Larry on Monday.

The girl was at work last Friday night when her dog wandered away from their Hawthorne home at about 7 p.m.

Later, Dempkey called the girl saying he had her dog and demanding she pay him $70 for Pineapple's return. She panicked, hung up, but he called her right back and asked her for "something else" if she didn't have the cash. He wanted her to meet him at the El Pollo Loco at Hawthorne Boulevard and Imperial Highway where he allegedly said he'd give her the dog back -- in exchange "for sex."

When Dempkey showed up with the dog in tow (this is the best part of the story), he was met by police who quickly took him into custody and returned Pineapple to her owner.

I've heard of scams where people will call folks who take out "lost dog" ads in the newspaper, claiming to have the animal in a distant location and asking for a large sum of money to cover the costs for return.

But this is a first.

And a last, we can only hope.