Indiana Fever veteran Odyssey Sims was briefly detained by police around 9 am of Thanksgiving morning after employees at the city’s animal shelter mistook the 5-foot-8 guard for a burglar attempting to steal 27 cats.
According to IMPD reports, Sims, 33, arrived at the Indianapolis Animal Care Services facility just after 10 a.m. wearing all-black workout gear and a hoodie. Shelter night staff, already on edge after recent break-in attempts, saw a hooded figure scaling a 6-foot fence and triggered a silent alarm. Security footage later revealed Sims was actually rescuing a stray kitten stuck atop the enclosure, a routine she’s quietly performed for years.
Officers arrived to find the 11-year WNBA veteran cradling the kitten while 26 others (released from an accidentally unlatched outdoor run) followed her like a feline entourage. “She looked exactly like the cat burglar composite sketch we’d been circulating,” one officer told reporters, “except shorter and holding a basketball keychain.”
Sims, who averages 8.4 points and 4.1 assists for the Fever this season, was handcuffed for less than ten minutes before shelter director Maria Valdez recognized her from season-ticket holder photos. Charges were never filed.
“Odyssey fosters cats during the offseason,” Fever GM Lin Dunn confirmed. “She’s saved over 80 in Indy alone. Tonight she just picked the wrong fence.
The kitten, now named “Fast Break,” has been adopted by the team. Sims returns to practice tomorrow—still undefeated in steals, just not the criminal kind.
