WAVELAND, Ind. -- A stray dog might be behind mysterious cases of disappearing shoes in this small Montgomery County community.

Shoes that were left outdoors started disappearing in June and began showing up near the town's fire station.

A stray brown and white dog, possibly a beagle, was seen carrying a shoe in his mouth near the fire station.

Acting town marshal Rob Kiger said he has tried to take the alleged shoe bandit into custody, but the dog keeps running.

Susie Calvert, who works for the town, said she found about 15 shoes total -- no pairs, just individual shoes carried to the fire station, on the ramp, street, sidewalk and parking lot.

Calvert hasn't seen the dog in person, but others have.

"I've seen him laying right here on the ramps where they pull the fire trucks in," said resident Angie Jeffers said. "He was laying there with a shoe right beside him."

Residents and officials have tried to corral the dog, without any luck.

"He's our little bandit -- little shoe bandit," Calvert said. "He doesn't hang around. He's afraid of people, it seems like."

The dog has been missing for a couple of weeks, leaving residents to wonder what happened to him.

"Since it hit the paper, I think he's laying low. He's not really stealing shoes," Calvert said. "There was a sock out there and I said, 'Oh no, let's not go with the sock deal now.'"

6News' Jennifer Carmack polled the other animals in nearby farms, but they declined to rat out the dog.

"It doesn't take a lot to entertain us around here," Jeffers said.