Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Hylee executes first on-duty find

Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Hylee recently executed her first on-duty find — a gun buried under a stack of clothes inside a dresser, officials said.

Pronounced “I-lee,” the Labrador Retriever joined the department in May, after she and her handler —county Sheriff Corporal Michael Flynn — graduated from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center K-9 training program, which is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania.

Hylee was primarily trained to detect explosives but is also certified to find firearms.

Her first discovery occurred during a Nov. 25 call from county detectives and Nanticoke Police to assist in a search warrant of a city property in an investigation related to a firearm, county Sheriff Brian Szumski said Wednesday.

Flynn said it was a sizeable residential structure with multiple bedrooms.

“That’s one of the reasons they called us in to expedite the search warrant because it was so large and had so many rooms,” he said.

Investigators selected the first bedroom to be searched, and Hylee stopped at a tall, wooden dresser containing the gun within a few minutes of sniffing around the room, Flynn said.

She alerts Flynn by freezing in place and staring.

He marveled at her ability to “smell through” an array of hair products and cosmetics atop the dresser and lock in on the scent of the hidden gun.

“She is crazy fast,” he said, with pride in his voice.

While Hylee has many toys, her on-the-job detection reward is play time with a specific ball on a tether.

Her official search work is mentally exhausting and requires a break after 30 minutes, so Flynn said he let her play with the reward toy and then calmed her down with a walk while investigators retrieved the gun and continued with the investigation.

They then returned to search other rooms. As Hylee was about to zero in on a gun magazine inside a bedstand in one of the rooms, the suspect, now aware of her skill, proactively told investigators about the magazine and also a firearm in his truck, Flynn said.

Szumski said the department was glad her first find was a gun and not a bomb.

Interest in acquiring Hylee was prompted by bomb and explosive-related threats in the area in recent years, Szumski has said. For example, the county sheriff’s department had to bring in a bomb detection dog from Lackawanna County to search the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre on Election Day in November 2024 due to a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded.

Hylee has conducted several preemptive sweeps of county buildings, including at election time, Flynn said. She also searched a school upon request.

Although she is not officially a therapy dog, she was also summoned by the county District Attorney’s Office to assist when a child had to be interviewed about a traumatic crime against her, Flynn said. Hylee’s presence calmed the girl, and she now requests the K-9 for all subsequent visits.

Szumski chose a Labrador Retriever because the breed is approachable and not intimidating, which is essential for her many public appearances at schools and community events.

“Everybody wants to pet her and be around her. She’s not scary,” the sheriff said.

He has watched the K-9 patiently allow hundreds of students to line up and interact with her in each school visit.

“She’s as cool as a cucumber. It’s so neat to watch,” Szumski said.

To reduce the financial burden and involve the community, Szumski’s department worked with the Luzerne Foundation to create a fund that accepts donations to help the county cover ongoing K-9 expenses, including veterinary care and food. A link to the fund and other information about Hylee has been posted on the main page of the county website, luzernecounty.org.

“We’re almost completely funded through community donations, which is fantastic. Everybody has been really accepting,” Szumski said.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo had announced Hylee’s first gun find at a County Council meeting, resulting in a round of applause.

Hylee is currently in training to assist with missing person searches. Flynn said she should be certified in tracking in June.