An Oklahoma police K-9 dog is being called a hero after using his nose to sniff out evidence against a child predator.
Rosco, who serves as an Electronic Storage Detection (ESD) K-9 that specializes in child exploitation cases with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office, just returned home from a mission in Ecuador that led to the arrest of a “high-profile” doctor, News on 6 reported.
Last week, Ecuadorian and American law enforcement authorities took pediatrician Pablo Anibal into custody from his home in the capital city of Quito after Rosco found “two micro SD cards and a cell phone” containing evidence.
Anibal had been under investigation since March after being accused of producing child sexual abuse material with patients who were just eight to twelve years old, the Oklahoma news outlet reported.
Rosco was able to locate the devices in the doctor’s home after being trained to detect a “specific chemical that’s on all electronic devices, that keeps them from overheating.”
“We just jumped at it and agreed to go,” Rosco’s handler, Lieutenant John Haning, said about being asked for help to search the disgraced pediatrician’s home.
“If you overlook one cell phone, one computer, micro-SD card or one hidden camera somewhere in the room, that could lead to another victim or that could lead us to put this perpetrator away for a long period of time,” Haning explained to KJRH.
While this was Rosco’s first mission abroad, he’s far from inexperienced in the domestic field.
“Since having Rosco he’s found multiple devices from multiple different agencies where we had a lot of investigators searching these rooms and houses,” his handler said. “And they’d overlook them because Rosco would go in after and find those devices that were overlooked.”
Rosco is also good at providing emotional support to victims in crisis.
“So when we went to Ecuador, one of the 15-year-old special needs victims was there at the house and she was visibly distraught, crying, out of control,” Haning said. “I introduced Rosco to her and she immediately stopped crying and was more focused on Rosco and all the little tricks my wife and I have been teaching Rosco over the years.”
The brave dog even helps other investigators calm down.
“Like when they get upset or they’re stressed out or he feels that they need a break. He will jump up on their lap you know, like they’re typing away and this 70-80 lbs dog jumps in their lap and is like hey pay attention to me,” the lieutenant said.
According to Ecuadorian news site El Universo, Anibal was a presidential adviser from 2011 to 2013. He faces up to 30 years in prison for his horrendous alleged crimes, KJRH noted.
