INDIANAPOLIS — A van that looks like it belongs to the Brown County Humane Society has been spotted several times on the streets of Indianapolis.
However, the Humane Society said the van is not theirs anymore and they don't know who is driving it around town.
The van was spotted as early as Sunday driving slowly around Oak and Arlington Avenues, and it was seen again Tuesday morning on Ridgeview Drive. The woman who spotted it called police and shared a photo online setting off a social media search party.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department put out an all-points bulletin Tuesday afternoon.
"I noticed a van marked 'Brown County Humane Society' pulling down the street very slowly," Chelsea Snider said.
The van was spotted a few blocks down from Snider's home driving along Oak Avenue. Video shows it slowly rolling past a home. It pulled into a neighbor's driveway, backs out, stops in front of the house and then pulls into the next neighbor's driveway before eventually leaving the neighborhood.
"Irvington has had a little bit of an issue with property being stolen. Vehicles being broken into, pets going missing," Snider said.
There have been 30 incidents of either breaking and entering or theft reported to police near Snider's home in the past week.
"The mother of three small children, I'm concerned that if my kids are out front and I look away for a few seconds, is something going to happen to them?" Snider said.
That's why Snider shared the picture she took on social media.
"I noticed that the van said Brown County and I was like, 'Oh, that's odd that Brown County's all the way up here looking for an animal,'" she said.
A spokeswoman for the Brown County Humane Society said the van used to belong to the organization, but they traded it in a year-and-a-half ago. They want people in the area to know they aren't in Indianapolis driving around. That's why they shared the picture on their Facebook page.
Snider has advice for her neighbors.
"If you see something out of the ordinary, just call it in," she said.
Police said they checked out the call for the van Tuesday afternoon, but it was gone by the time they arrived. IMPD said Snider did exactly the right thing by calling the vehicle in. They want you to do the same. If you see something suspicious, call police.
