Bizarre prank targets blogger’s family dog

UPDATE: My daughter filed a police report.  I imagine that the suspects we named are going to have a rough time with the SAPD tomorrow…

I received a panicked phone call from my son Joey last night.  He is at UCLA, where he lives in an off-campus apartment with other students.  He was wondering if our dog Sparky was lost.  This took me by surprise as Sparky was sitting next to me on the couch.  So I asked Joey why he thought Sparky might be lost.  And that is when this tale took a turn for the weird.

Someone apparently put up lost dog fliers all over Downtown Santa Ana and in my own neighborhood.  The fliers include my name and cell phone number and a picture of my dog that was posted a long time ago on Facebook.  A friend of Joey’s saw the flier on a pole, while he was at the Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk last night and he texted the picture to Joey.  We later found a flier on our own street, also on a pole.  That means whoever is behind this walked right by my home…

What to make of this?  Why would someone go to such lengths on what is either a stupid prank or worse perhaps a threat?

It is bizarre and not welcome.  This is not the first time my family has been targeted but this is certainly the creepiest episode by far.  If this was meant to be a prank, it was not funny.

My father told me many years ago about an uncle he had in Mexico, who was a journalist.  He was murdered by some criminal cartel because he reported the truth and they didn’t like it.

I am just a blogger but we do cover Santa Ana politics on this blog to an extent unseen anywhere else.  Could this be some whacked out plot by unknown parties upset about something I reported?

Mayor Miguel Pulido’s family was attacked just last November, by allies of the current City Council – as one of them, David Benavides, was trying to defeat Pulido.  That attack was an epic fail as Pulido went on to wreck Benavides on Nov. 6.

It is sad that there are elements in this town who would resort to such insanity.  Feel free to debate the issues here but please don’t come after my family – or our dog.  He is not lost but if something were to happen to him now this would go from a prank to a crime.  And my neighbors will be watching…

Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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  • "My father told me many years ago about an uncle he had in Mexico, who was a journalist. He was murdered by some criminal cartel because he reported the truth and they didn’t like it."......... Hmmmmmm

    In that case you shouldn't wary because there is no truth in your PRAVDA.

  • "Feel free to debate the issues here but please don’t come after my family"....... Hmmmmm

    Same like you never go after my, Benavides and Vila Senor families naming just few.

    I think that you have one of your melancholy episodes again.

    • My dear Stanley you were arrested for allegedly assaulting your own family members, and Villasenor's brother was also arrested, for assaulting a little girl. Those are matters of public record. And we continue to ponder why Benavides removed all references to his wife and kids from his Facebook pages and campaign website. That is a fair question.

      Pulido's family was attacked even after the SAPD said there were no grounds to attack them.

      And my family certainly didn't merit this bizarre prank, or whatever it is.

      • Since you are using public record to go after my family you are doing exactly that which you asking people not to do to you.

        "why Benavides removed all references to his wife and kids from his Facebook pages and campaign website"..... Hmmmmmm

        Obviously he wants to protect his family so "you Zorro" wouldn't go after his family.

        • Oh Stanley. I have never requested your SAPD record. I trust that you have learned from that incident and made amends.

          Benavides mentioned his family throughout his first campaign. Now even his Council bio has been scrubbed of any reference to them. It is one thing to protect your family and quite another to be dodgy and evasive. Where is the transparency that Benavides is always bleating about?

          • Please try to understand that you have no right to go after your opponent families, by any form or shape, for any reasons, if asking your opponents not to go after yours.

            Therefore, your request "please don’t come after my family" is like if a moron mongoloid made it.

          • Matters of public record are a different matter. And were talking about elected officials and candidates, who are held to a higher standard.

            It is not an attack to convey matters of public record and to wonder why a mayoral candidate would scrub all references to his wife and kids, from all his many websites, public and private.

            It is an attack to maliciously post fliers indicating that our family dog is lost, when he plainly isn't.

            That you are unable to tell the difference between these actions is disturbing.

          • There is a difference between writing about the truth and posting lies all over town. Apparently you're unable to discern that difference. That you would resort to a racist attack on our Vietnamese American brothers is par for the course.

            Did you idolize Archie Bunker back in the day? That show was supposed to poke fun at behavior like yours, not promote it! Perhaps something was lost in the translation when that show was broadcast in your Czech homeland.

          • I have simply posted truth like you do. There is link containing truth.

            I have simply let you eat your own enchilada!

            How does it taste?

          • So you're unable to comprehend the difference between the truth and lies and you remain blissfully unaware that you are a racist. How do you say ''sad'' in the Slavic tongue?

        • Stanley,

          It is common knowledge Emily Benavide's left her husband after he was caught having an affair.

          She admitted this to Joe Hill another blogger.

          Besides, David was a canidate for mayor, expressing and expousing "family values" and his Christan faith. His infidelity flies in the face of this.

          Protect yourself admin, and prosucute and expose these guys.

    • That's called blaming the victim. We should not tolerate these actions, no matter who they are visited upon.

  • "So you’re unable to comprehend the difference between the truth and lies"........ Hmmmmmm

    Do you mean difference like between Bible and NSA Blog respectively?

    • The Devil quoted from the Bible too, when he tried to deceive Jesus. Scoundrels have long resorted to quoting the scriptures to make a point. That you are an atheist is not lost on me.

  • "The Devil quoted from the Bible too, when he tried to deceive Jesus"....... Hmmmmmm

    May I have a quote please?

      • Where is the devil?
        And How the Devil could quote the bible if it wasn't written yet?

        [Whenever you discuss Jesus's radical welcome and embrace of "tax collectors and sinners" someone will eventually try to throw some cold water by bringing up John 8.1-11.

        This is the famous story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. After challenging the men accusing the woman--"Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”--causing them to drop their stones and walk off, Jesus turns to the woman:

        “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

        “No one, sir,” she said.

        “Then neither do I condemn you...”

        So far, so good. Jesus doesn't condemn the women like the men have. But that's not Jesus's final word. His parting word is this:

        "Go and sin no more."

        The way John 8.1-11 rhetorically functions in many conversations is as evidence that Jesus had moral standards. Jesus's embrace wasn't unconditional, it had strings attached. That is, Jesus's welcoming of tax collectors and sinners wasn't as radical as we might think. We must recall, the argument goes, that Jesus told the woman "Go and sin no more." And so, the argument continues, the church should follow Jesus's lead. We should embrace the sinners of the world but we need to tell them to "Go and sin no more."

        The trouble with this, from a practical standpoint, is that way too often this is the first, last and only word the church offers the world. Instead of "Neither do I condemn you" it's always "Go and sin no more."

        But I'd like to make a different point today. And it's this:

        John 8.1-11 isn't even in the Bible.

        Or at least not in the earliest manuscripts we have of John. Check any modern translation.

        Now, to be clear, I don't really want to push this too far. I don't really have a problem accepting John 8.1-11 as canonical. I mainly bring this up so we can ponder something.

        Let's say John 8.1-11 really isn't a part of the Bible as certain evidence might suggest. Let's say that Jesus never said "Go and sin no more." Imagine those words aren't in the Bible. Then ask yourself this: is there anywhere else in the gospels where Jesus says anything similar?

        And if not, what might that mean for our understanding of Jesus's radical embrace of tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners?

        Food for thought.]
        http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2012/05/go-and-sin-no-more.html

        • The Devil quoted the old Testament.

          Jesus asked us, on several occasions, to repent. That is part of Christian doctrine.

          • "The Devil quoted the old Testament"....... Hmmmmmmm

            I was referring to Bible and not to "torah".

            The quote was mane by Jesus and not by Devil quoting "torah" unless you believe that Jesus was possessed by the Devil which would be consistent behavior with your blogging.

  • Art and Stanley, stop trying to cheer my up by fighting.

    Presuming (as I do) that Art is accurately depicting the story of this prank regarding his dog, and not addressing his statements about others, I think that this is terrible and intolerable. If anyone out there who did this considers me a political or personal friend, please understand that if I found out you did such a thing that friendship would be unlike to survive.

    The same goes for attacks on or actions by my other friends, antagonists, etc. I think that lots of actions that about which people generally "look the other way" in county politics are fair game for criticism, even witty and caustic criticism under the right circumstances, but none of them call for deliberate and gratuitous cruelty. What Art describes is purely cruel. It should have no place in Orange County politics.

    • Thanks you Greg. Well said. I just took Sparky for a walk and found two more of these fliers at the end of my street.

      Now we are all worried that these miscreants will try to kidnap our dog while we're at work and at school. There's a word for this. Terrorism. And you're right this simply should not happen to anyone.

  • I'm glad your dog is safe Mr. Editor.

    There's a rumor going around the Art Village that these dog flyers came from Don Cribb.

    It's no secret that Cribb's been sh*t-talking our Mayor all over town AND supported the Springsters this past election. Does that sound like a friend?

    Don also has deep ties to Mike McGee & Grand Central Art Center, the building where the "lost dog" flyers were posted.

    Doesn't Cribb live a couple of houses away from you? It would explain why no one noticed him walking by your casa yesterday.

    Why would your neighbor target you like that?

    • That would be terribly immature behavior by Cribb. I hope he's better than that.

      The gentrifiers in this town definitely have it in for me...

    • I consider spreading rumors anonymously about someone not here to defend himself to be in the same bin, albeit less dramatic, as posting flyers that could lead someone to think that their dog is lost. I hope that, having made the valid point, Art will not invite an anonymous witch hunt. It politicizes what ought to be a purely moral point.

        • "There is no shortage of suspects"........ Hmmmmmmm

          I have received anonymous death treads approved by you and published in your OJ..... Remember?

          Maybe X-Manager Walters is pissed off for being kicked out thanks to your crapola published here!

          • "you clearly overreacted"........ Hmmmmmmm

            Sure!

            And you are overreacting with your dog fliers.

            I believe that it was inside job by one of your many split personalities, carpetbager, brown pride and cicano power, naming just few.

          • My daughter just collected six more fliers posted in our neighborhood.

            And memo to the guy who just tried to post about my wife and daughter. My daughter has files a police report and we'll be turning your IP address to the police.

          • "My daughter has files a police report and we’ll be turning your IP address to the police."...... Hmmmmmm

            Are you talking about my IP addres?

          • No. You're one of our few commenters who is brave enough to put your real name on your comments. And while your comments often push the envelope they are nothing like what the anon commenter tried to post.

  • "There’s a word for this. Terrorism"....... Hmmmmmmm

    Someone's Terrorist is Someone else's Freedom Fighter? or;

    Should I say delicatessen preparer?

  • What, no computer?

    This blog is open to the general public at large. If someone wants to defend themselves, all they must do is visit the URL and answer.

    Not on a par w dog flyer threats at ALL.

    If a guy wants to clear up rumors, they should do so in person, on these comments.

    Questions raised deserve answers.

  • When I ran for School Board someone did the same thing to me and posted "Lost Dog" posters along Main and 17th streets. I'm sure it's the same person.

    Go Get 'em Art!

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