INVERNESS, Fla. — A Florida sheriff's office calls the efforts of a deputy's wife to buy a police K-9 "misguided."
The Citrus County Sheriff's Office said it became aware Thursday of a GoFundMe campaign raising money to purchase K-9 Krennic for Deputy Jonathan Behnen from the agency. In a news release, the office said it is not associated with the page and it's misleading.
About $790 was raised by 22 people before the page, created by the deputy's wife Keli Behnen, appeared to be taken down Monday evening.
Simply put, the sheriff's office said in a news release, the Belgian Malinois dog is not for sale. It purchased the animal on March 2017 and assigned Krennic to Behnen after his previous dog, K-9 Jerry Lee, retired.
The deputy is out on extended leave, and the sheriff's office said he cannot properly train the 3-year-old animal.
"It is common practice to reassign a canine asset with a different handler when it is determined that the canine still has multiple years' worth of valuable service remaining," the sheriff's office said.
It added Behnen already owns K-9 Jerry Lee -- the two worked together for about eight years -- as a pet because of the dog's "stellar lengthy career" before retirement. Prior to receiving any dog, however, K-9 deputies are told they are to be considered a "working partner," not a pet.
"At only three-years-old, K9 Krennic is nowhere close to retirement. From evaluations and continued trainings, it was determined that this canine is still a valuable asset to the agency and to the citizens of Citrus County," the release stated.
The GoFundMe page said Behnen is out of work because of a medical condition he had been battling for years. K-9 Krennic, his wife wrote, "is not just a dog or an asset. He is my husband's best friend ... and he helps him deal with day-to-day stresses."
She said the dog originally was valued at $8,000, and the full amount would be a donation to the sheriff's office canine fund so "Krennic can be returned home to where he belongs."
10News reached out to Keli Behnen, who wished not to be interviewed. However, the deputy's daughter, Kaitlynn Vincent, fired back at the sheriff's office.
"They said that he's an asset and a liability and that's why they took Krennic, but I don't understand that because Krennic, yes, Krennic is an $8,000 dog but my dad still has his $30,000 patrol car sitting in our driveway," Vincent said.
She said the family can only watch Jonathan Behnen become increasingly upset over the situation. Having worked with K-9 Jerry Lee for so long and keeping him in retirement, he expected to do the same with K-9 Krennic.
"He's really taking this hard. ... He went and picked Krennic out, he trained Krennic," Vincent said.
Behnen was in the headlines in June 2016 after helping to thwart the abduction of a 13-year-old girl at a Dollar General Store.
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