By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — With no attendant available to assist him, a local man waited for over an hour to adopt a dog at the animal shelter Wednesday before he finally got fed up and took one, police said.

Leon T. Simpson, 35, of 81 Newport St., was charged with one count of larceny for stealing a black puppy from the pound, said Lt. Steve Nowak.
The police contacted Simpson after he told some of his friends how he got the dog and they called Animal Control Officer Doris Kay. Simpson voluntarily returned the dog to the Cumberland Hill Road pound about 2:20 p.m., when he was arrested.
“He showed a level of remorse, but there was evidence he did commit a crime so we did charge him,” said Nowak.
There were no signs of forced entry at the facility and it’s possible the door could have been left unlocked by staff, according to Nowak. So Simpson wasn’t charged with breaking and entering.
The convoluted story of how police found out Simpson allegedly pilfered the black Lab mix began when he went over a friend’s house in North Smithfield with the dog. The friend told police Simpson was waiting for him with the dog when he came home, and proceeded to explain how he had obtained it.
Simpson told him he was waiting outside the pound for over an over for someone to show up. Before he went in and took the dog from an unlocked, caged area, two other people did the same and left with an orange cat, Simpson allegedly told his friend.
Alarmed by the story, the man called another friend of his who volunteers at the facility. Her sister called the animal control officer, who apparently reported the incident to the police.
Kay said people have entered the animal control facility illegally in the past, but usually for the purpose of wreaking havoc, not because they want a free pet.
“It’s happened in the past, they just break in for the heck of it and let the dogs loose,” said Kay.