LEONARDO DA PINCHY TERRORISES SEASIDE TOWN IN ‘ONE-CAT CRIMEWAVE’

While most cat owners worry about their pets dragging home mice, one New Zealand family is grappling with a far stranger habit: their cat is a serial thief.

Fifteen-month-old Leo—now infamously nicknamed “Leonardo da Pinchy”—has earned a reputation in Mairangi Bay as a one-cat crime spree.

With a flair for the luxurious, Leo’s loot often includes items swiped from clotheslines and open bedroom windows—silk boxer shorts, thick men’s work socks (still clipped with pegs), and even high-end clothing.

In one particularly embarrassing incident, Leo returned home with a brand-new cashmere sweater worth NZ$300 (about £145).

“My daughter was home sick and called me at work saying, ‘It’s bad, it’s bad—this is the worst thing he’s brought in yet,’” recalled Leo’s owner, Helen North.

“Because it was beautiful. I was like, ‘Ooh, can I keep that?’ But I couldn’t.”

Instead of hiding the evidence, Helen North took to her local WhatsApp group to return Leo’s loot to its rightful owners—often with the now-familiar message: “Are these your undies?”

But the stolen goods kept coming: countless socks, piles of underwear, and even a five-foot-long stuffed snake made it into Leo’s bizarre collection.

On his most ambitious day, Leo brought home nine items—enough for a full outfit, albeit a mismatched one that included everything from baby clothes to men’s apparel.

“He brought in a jersey this morning at 8.10am,” Ms North said.

“The shops hadn’t even opened.”

With dozens of items unclaimed, the embarrassed owner took her search for Leo’s victims wider this month, posting photos of his hauls on a local Facebook page

 along with an apology and her address.

Those who showed up to claim their belongings included a woman who recognised her pink and purple underpants and a boy whose beloved and missing sports jersey was helpfully identifiable by his name printed on the back.

The outrage Helen North anticipated over Leo’s kleptomaniac streak never really surfaced—though one neighbor, allergic to cats, now opts to dry her laundry indoors.

“All our neighbors think he’s hilarious,” North said.

“Some are even a bit disappointed he hasn’t stolen anything from them yet.”

Still, Ms North has tried everything to curb her cat’s laundry obsession, from attempting to keep him indoors to leaving out clothes at home for him to steal. No luck.

“He only wants stuff that he shouldn’t have,” she said, adding that she was also unwilling to risk an online suggestion that Leo simply needed another playmate.

“He might teach another cat to do this.”

Leo’s life of crime began when he was first allowed outdoors a year ago. But his family hopes it is just a juvenile phase.

“I hope he grows out of it because I don’t want to do this for like, 15 years,” Ms North said.

“This is a lot of admin.”

For now, on the streets of Mairangi Bay, Leonardo da Pinchy remains at large.