Soccer star Daniel Sturridge ordered to pay $30,000 to man who returned his lost dog Lucci

A judge has ordered Daniel Sturridge, an English soccer player, to pay $30,000 to the man who found his dog that went missing in 2019. 

In July 2019, Sturridge pleaded with his Twitter followers to help him find his Pomeranian, stating he would pay any amount from “20 Gs, 30 Gs, whatever” if his dog was found. According to The New York Times, Foster Washington filed a lawsuit against Sturridge in March after never being paid for returning the dog, Lucci.

On Tuesday, Judge Curtis A. Kin of the Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a default judgment, awarding $30,000 in damages to Washington.

Sturridge spoke out about the suit on Saturday tweeting, “I met a young boy who found my dog and paid him a reward, which he was delighted with as was I to get my dog back because he was stolen.”

He added it is "shameful" to relieve the memories of 2019 during the holidays and claimed "other people are trying to benefit for their own personal gain."

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Sturridge's dog was stolen from his home in Los Angeles following a break-in. In a video, he responded "How can you break into a house in L.A. and take somebody’s dog? Are you crazy?"

Following the home invasion, Washington said he was walking home from work, where he works as a security guard, when he noticed a wandering dog. His family had always wanted a pet but couldn't afford one so Washington took the Pomeranian home, The New York Times reported. 

Police “concluded that [Washington] was not one of the thieves, or related to the burglary crime in any way,” the lawsuit said. 

Just hours after taking in the dog, a friend informed Washington that the Pomeranian was "famous" and belonged to Sturridge. Washington was then connected with Sturridge via Kimberly Cheng from the Los Angeles news station KTLA.

However when Washington and Sturridge did eventually meet, Washington asked about the reward to which Sturridge replied "there is no reward," according to court records. After attempting to contact Sturridge and his representatives various times, Washington went forward with the lawsuit. 

“I don’t see how I’m a bad guy by expecting him to honor this reward,” he said, adding: “Thirty thousand dollars is a lot of money. For anybody, that’s a life-changing amount of money.”

Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda