Trucker facing court date for stealing a fellow driver’s cat

A truck driver will appear in court next week after allegedly stealing a fellow driver’s cat right out of her truck cab. 

Truck driver Christine Smith-Powell says that she was resting in the sleeper berth of her truck while her co-driver unloaded the truck at a Best Buy in Findlay, Ohio in October of 2023. Smith-Powell says that, as she rested, another trucking couple parked nearby snuck into her cab and stole her calico cat, Pippa, right out of the truck. 

Smith-Powell says that Zmukic spoke with her co-driver about the calico car just before the crime, stating that she has a similar one at home but would like another calico to stay with her on the truck.

According to 13 ABC, Smith-Powell’s dash cam caught the couple in the act, and 57-year-old Senada Zmukic has been charged with petty theft and trespassing as a result of stealing her fellow driver’s cat, but Pippa is still missing. Smith-Powell has been on the lookout for Pippa for nearly a year and a half with the help of a movement on social media but the kitty is still nowhere to be found. 

“It’s like losing my child. I bottle fed her, I washed her and blew her dry like a mama cat would lick her clean,” she said. “This is my baby.” Smith-Powell also travels with Pippa’s two kitty brothers in the cab.

Zmukic claims that she does not have the cat and never did, but Smith-Powell believes that Zmukic dumped the cat before she was charged with the crime. Zmukic is scheduled to appear in court on April 3rd, but Smith-Powell says nothing that the court can do will make her feel that justice has been done for her beloved pet.