A former England international soccer star is now going to be a lighter in the pockets after he was ordered by a California judge to pay over $30,000 to a man who rescued his stolen dog.
32-year-old Daniel Sturridge, who has played for Liverpool and Chelsea during his career, had his Pomeranian dog stolen from him in July 2019 while he was living in Los Angeles.
After the dog, Lucci, went missing, Sturridge took to social media several times and pleaded for the safe return while offering a substantial cash reward.
“We will pay anything for the dog,” he said in one post. “Whoever brings my dog back, 20 grand, 30 grand, whatever,” he continued, not specifying the currency.
Soon after the campaign to find Lucci the dog, a Los Angeles man named Foster Washington claimed to have found the dog.
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Washington raps under the alias Killa Fame.
Sturridge was eventually reunited with the dog.
Since then, Washington claimed that Sturridge never provided him with any form of financial reward for finding Lucci, and eventually sued the soccer star for the money.
On Christmas Eve, Washington took to Twitter and shared an image of a court judgment in his favor, showing that Los Angeles County judge Curtis A. Kin had ordered Sturridge to pay Washington $30,000 in damages, and a further $85 in costs.
“Hopefully he pays up and doesn’t try to appeal it,” he told British news agency the Press Association.
“I’m excited about it, I’ve been fighting this case for over a year, I can’t believe it’s over. When we found the dog I thought my life was going to be better.”
