Cat burglar? Suspect reportedly stole kitten before attempted bank robbery

Maryland authorities said there were no injuries reported and did not provide the suspect's identity, but said the incident was under investigation.

Police responding to a bank robbery in Maryland earlier this week were allegedly met by a real-life “cat burglar” when the suspect was found to be carrying a stolen kitten.

The Prince George’s County Police Department told Global News in a statement that officers arrested a man suspected of stealing a cat and taking it to a bank branch in Beltsville, northeast of Washington, D.C., which he allegedly attempted to rob.

“The suspect did have a stolen cat, and the cat was returned,” the statement said, though it did not say where the feline had been stolen from or to whom it was returned.

Authorities said there were no injuries reported and did not provide the suspect’s identity, but said the incident was under investigation.

According to a Facebook post from the organization Beltsville Community Cats, a local cat rescue centre, the stolen animal is currently in its care.

It identified the feline as a “3.5-month-old tuxedo kitten” named Magnolia, saying “she had quite the adventure today,” and went on to claim that the cat had been stolen from an adoption habitat at Pet Supplies Plus in Beltsville.

In the post, the shelter alleged that the suspect, who it claims was a male, “walked across the parking lot to a nearby PNC Bank branch and tried to use her as an accessory in his attempted robbery.”

“He asked the bank manager to hold the kitten while he wrote a note, then handed the note to a teller demanding all the cash,” it alleged in the Facebook post.

Police did not formally corroborate the shelter’s claims.

“Thankfully, the robbery was unsuccessful,” the shelter’s statement claimed, “the suspect was arrested, and Magnolia was found safe and sound in the bank manager’s office, where the two had bonded over their shared ordeal,” it also alleged.

Magnolia is now back to doing what she does best: “stealing hearts,” the shelter wrote, adding that the kitten’s short stint as an accessory to a crime was over and that she is still up for adoption.

Local NBC affiliate 4 Washington reported Tuesday that employees at the Pet Supplies Plus claimed a suspect had visited the store daily for several weeks to look at Magnolia before managing to use a key to open her enclosure, snatch her and run off.

The outlet said it spoke with a woman named Stephanie Stullich of Beltsville Community Cats, who said she had received a call from a panicked pet store employee reporting that a kitten had been stolen.

The call prompted Stullich to make her way to the store, where she “immediately saw all of these police cars,” and thought, “‘Wow, that’s a heck of a response for a stolen cat,'” she told 4 Washington.

“But then I realized they all were going down to the bank,” she said.

“They came back out a few minutes later and said, ‘Yes, there is a cat inside the bank,” the outlet reported.

“Apparently he went into the bank with the cat in his arms, and he walked up to a bank employee and said, ‘Can you hold this?'”

This story was originally published by Global News on July 15, 2026. CityAM Canada is republishing it for our Canadian readers.