Jabal, the catnapped Park Slope bodega kitten, is back.
The beloved mouser scooped up by a coldhearted couple in front of Eight Street Mini Mart was returned by police on Tuesday morning. Hours later, the NYPD announced the arrest of the accused catnapper, Mary Sierra, 58, of Bushwick.
The owner of the bodega, Imad Innab, 60, said he received a call from a woman on Monday who said she recognized the woman who was captured alongside a man carrying the cat away in a widely seen surveillance image. Innab then called the local police precinct.
Shortly after that, Innab said he received another phone call — this time from the catnapper herself. She said she was going to return the feline that day. Innab scoffed at the woman’s claim that she didn’t know the cat belonged to him.
A surveillance image of the suspected catnappers.
“ You took the cat, and you run away,” he said he told her.
At 11:25 a.m., a police officer came into the bodega with a bag. The cat was soon out of the bag.
“ I jumped, I wasn't sure it's real,” Innab said.
“I cried,” he said.
The cat climbed on him, sniffing him.
“ I put him down, and he started to sniff his bed, and his chair, and all of his toys,” Innab said.
The NYPD said in a statement that Sierra was charged with petit larceny, possession of stolen property and "companion animal stealing." It was not immediately clear if police were looking for the man captured on surveillance camera holding Jabal.
Information on Sierra's attorney was not immediately available.
Students who had just got out of school cried out with joy when they saw the cat as word of Jabal's return made its way around the neighborhood.
Everyone wanted to have a look. Innab allowed several kids behind the counter to play with Jabal, who was sprawled out in a cat tunnel, whacking a ball hanging on a string.
The kids love Jabal.
“ My son was camped out in a lawn chair [outside the bodega] yesterday waiting for the return,” said Ethan Mitchell, 45.
Carolyn Kessler, 45, and her 6-year-old son Ike stopped by after school.
“ It's so exciting and such a heartwarming thing to know that a neighborhood can band together and make something good happen,” Kessler said. “We're thrilled. And Ike is super excited. It's his first true crime experience.”
Innab said he has an appointment this weekend to get Jabal microchipped. He’d given Jabal a new collar with a nametag, which the 3-month-old kitten was doing his best to remove.
Innab said Jabal will be an indoor cat from now on.
“ I'm going to try not to just leave him outside, make sure he's inside, not outside,” Innab said.
This story has been updated with new information.
