Magnolia in her former enclosure at Pet Supplies Plus in Beltsville, Maryland.
Image: Pet Supplies Plus
Kyle Melnick
A man wearing a black beanie walked into a Maryland pet store last month, approached a kitten up for adoption and ran out moments later carrying the cat.
Stephanie Stullich, whose nonprofit organization rescued the tuxedo cat the month before, received a frantic call about the theft.
“We’d never had a kitten stolen before,” Stullich said. “So we had no idea why or how - or if we would ever see her again.”
Stullich hurried to the scene, where she wondered why six police cars were there for a stolen cat. She soon learned the kitten’s morning was more harrowing than she had feared.
After grabbing the kitten, the thief walked into a PNC Bank near the pet store, approached a teller window while still holding the cat and passed a note that read, “This is a Robbery,” according to court documents.
Prince George’s County police said they arrived on the scene and arrested the man.
Surveillance footage shows a man leaving a store in Beltsville with a tuxedo cat on July 13.
Image: Pet Supplies Plus
A few minutes after getting there, Stullich said she was relieved when a police officer told her the cat was safe inside the bank.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Stullich said. “Who would believe it?”
Stullich found the cat, named Magnolia, safe in a manager’s office. The kitten, now 5 months old, was unfazed, Stullich said.
Stullich brought Magnolia back to the Pet Supplies Plus in Beltsville, where the kitten attracted a lot of attention - welcomed, this time - after her unwitting participation in a crime.
More than 20 people applied to adopt her. Most cats rescued by Beltsville Community Cats receive three applications if they’re lucky, Stullich said.
The rescue group decided the person who applied before the kitten’s brush with the law - Kaylei Roldan, 28 - should adopt Magnolia. For the past month, Magnolia has been enjoying a quiet life - with cuddles, chicken-flavored treats and a cat tree - at Roldan’s apartment in Laurel, Maryland.
Magnolia began her life as a stray before Beltsville Community Cats took her in on June 8, when she was found roaming a Beltsville neighborhood. On July 1, Magnolia was taken to Pet Supplies Plus in hopes customers would meet her and apply to adopt her.
Kaylei Roldan, right, adopted Magnolia.
Image: Beltsville Community Cats
“Sweet, playful, and always purring, she loves cuddles, adventures, and being close to her people,” a poster read outside Magnolia’s enclosure. “She’d thrive in a home with a playful feline friend to match her energy.”
Roldan applied to adopt Magnolia on July 6 after seeing a photo of the kitten online. She wanted a companion cat for Kuro, a tuxedo kitten she had recently adopted.
At the time, another person had also expressed interest in Magnolia, though he was the one who entered the pet store around 10:30 a.m. on July 13, snatched the key to Magnolia’s wooden enclosure and left holding the cat, Stullich said.
Court records identify the suspect as Jacob Loethen, 19, of Beltsville. He was charged with robbery, second-degree assault and theft of at least $100 but less than $1,500, according to court documents.
Court records show Loethen is represented by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, which declined to comment. Police did not disclose a possible motive.
A few days after the theft, Roldan said she saw a news segment about a stolen tuxedo kitten that was used in an attempted bank robbery. She didn’t realize the kitten was Magnolia until she noticed both cats had black fur around the top of their noses.
Roldan said she laughed and decided she could deter Magnolia from a life of crime. Magnolia purred when Roldan picked her up during their first meeting on July 19.
“This is my cat,” Roldan recalled thinking. Magnolia went home with her that day.
PNC Bank said it donated $150 to Beltsville Community Cats, the equivalent of the fee to adopt a kitten from the rescue group.
“The safety and security of our employees and customers - two and four-legged - is at the forefront of everything we do,” Christina Stowers, a spokeswoman for the bank, said in an email to The Washington Post. “We’re pleased that this tale has a happy ending.”
Now, Magnolia plays with a brown mouse toy and sunbathes by a window. Magnolia and Kuro needed a few weeks to become friends, but now they chase each other and climb a cat tree together.
Roldan said she has a great pet backstory to tell people. A family member recently joked that Roldan was housing a fugitive.
“She has fully retired from planning any bank heists,” Roldan said. “She just wants to be curled up with Kuro and just stay home and eat treats.”
