Police: Call from 'burglar' actually came from dog

OREM, Utah (KSL) - Mystery solved: It was the dog, with the phone, in the garden.

Just before 9 a.m. Wednesday Bruce Gardner, of Orem, Utah called police saying his house was being broken into.

He said nobody was home, but he had just received a phone call on his cell phone from his house phone, and he could hear banging and scratching in the phone.

Officers went to Gardner's home, and entered.

They investigated, but did not see any evidence of forced entry and nothing appeared out of place.

Police couldn't locate the phone, but left after they concluded nothing had been taken.

Several hours after police left, Gardner called back saying he had an explanation for what had happened.

"Apparently his dog had gotten a hold of his cordless home phone and in the midst of chewing on it, it happened to hit 'redial,' called the man's cell phone," said Orem Police Department Sgt. Craig Martinez.

Gardner had found the phone lying face down in the garden after he tried locating it by calling the phone.

After noticing tooth marks on the back of the phone, he put the pieces together.

"The cops got here so fast, they probably distracted Maya from finishing eating the phone," Gardner said.

The story, Martinez said, has been spreading around the department.

"I've heard of some pretty strange things, but this ranks right up there with something I've never heard of happening before," Martinez said. "The whole thing is curious. It's just really odd."