Just after 6 pm a technician for Kingwood Air was in the Lake Splendora Subdivision where he ended up with a flat tire at a customer’s home. With the back door of the van open, he let his engine run to power his inverter so he could use his air compressor to air up the tire. As he was doing this a male, identified as Shawn Michael Pabst of Splendora who was with his German Shepard dog wearing a vest identifying the service dog as such jumped in the van and sped off. He left his service dog “Ginger” behind. Moments later he made the block with the rear doors still open and compressor hanging out and summoned his dog to get in. The dog immediately did so and the thief sped off. A short time later as a Conroe ISD officer was preparing to check the Grangerland area schools Pabst flagged him down at FM 2090 and FM 1485 asking for help changing the tire. Pabst pulled into the parking lot of Caney Creek High as the officer pulled in behind him. The officer ran the suspect’s driver’s license and license plate which was fresh and a report had not even been entered yet to show it was stolen. When CISD dispatchers tried to reach the officer there was no answer. An assist the officer was aired and multiple units responded. As units were en route they learned the van was stolen. Units arrived on the scene as Pabst fought them it took at least six officers to put the suspect in the patrol car. Ginger, the service dog would not come to deputies, they tried luring it with dog treats with no luck. Deputies were finally able to contact the Pabst family member who responded to the scene and was able to get Ginger. The owner of the van also responded to the scene to recover his van. Besides a tire, the owner said he had a tool bag that was missing and most likely fell out on the roadway as the rear doors were open. The CISD Officer was not injured in the incident.
