CHELMSFORD, Mass. — A manhunt for two alleged armed robbers came to an end when a K9 officer doing training nearby nabbed his first bad guy.
It took hours and hours of wading through chest-deep swamp water, but police didn’t give up and neither did Stryka. Now two alleged criminals are off the street because of it.
Chelmsford police say 37-year-old James Sarno and 23-year-old Kyle Nathan took a cab to the Stop & Shop, forgetting their drug paraphernalia in the car along the way.
The two men the allegedly went to the Citizens Bank inside and demanded cash.
Police say they got it, and ran across the street to the Market Basket where Nathan tried to carjack a woman and Sarno split off, heading into the woods.
That’s where police K9 Stryka comes in to this story.
"It was some tough going, yeah,” Danvers police officer Justin Ellenton said.
Ellenton and Stryka were training with the NEMLEC SWAT team when they heard the call from Chelmsford come in. They immediately deployed to the marshy area off the back of Market Basket and started searching for Sarno.
Hours passed with no sign of Sarno from the air or on the ground - then Stryka sensed something.
"[Sarno] was kind of hunkered down at the base of a tree, he was soaking wet; he was probably on the verge of hypothermia at that point. We had come through some pretty deep stuff to get there" Ellenton said.
A bite and hold to the lower leg made Sarno surrender, officer Ellenton says, and out he came from the swamp, shirtless, shoeless, and shivering cold.
A big win for Stryka and a big loss for Sarno.
Police say Sarno's accomplice was arrested a short time later in Lowell. Both men are being held pending arraignment and robbery charges.
Police also say federal charges may follow for Nathan, as he is suspected in several other crimes too.