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Jul 21, 2006 11:38 pm US/Eastern
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Down The Pants, Out The Door With Dognapper
Caught On Camera: Puppy Disappears Down Thief's Pants
Store Calls Man 'Boldest Thief Ever'
by Carey Codd
PLANTATION (CBS4 News) ―
A dozen cameras watch the little puppies at the Precious Puppies shop in Plantation, but that wasn't enough to stop one brazen thief from walking out of the store with a little Maltese puppy. He simply stuffed the dog into his pants, took a look around, and marched out the door with the dog.
Owners of the shop know what happened because the whole thing was caught on camera, in living color. When they reviewed the tapes, they couldn't believe their eyes.
The balding man, with a tattoo on his shoulder, told a salesperson he wanted a Maltese for his wife. While the salesperson was occupied, the man browsed the baby cribs the store uses to house its puppies, and as cameras rolled, picked up a Maltese and carried it through the store.
When he thought nobody was looking, the man raised his shirt, popped the puppy in his pants, and headed for the door.
Nobody spotted the puppy poaching, but when staff noticed the missing puppy, the tapes told the tale. The dog, worth up to $2 thousand, was never noticed as the man walked out.
Store manager Larry Silvey said puppies have been stolen before, but he believes this theft is the boldest he's ever seen.
Silvey says his anger over the theft is about more than the value of the puppy. "The puppy won't eat, and if a small breed puppy doesn't eat, he'll get hypoglycemia," he said. "If the thief gets scared, and throws the puppy away, we'd be scared about that."
As you might suspect in a store which keeps its puppies in baby cribs, the dogs are more than animals to the owners and the staff. Their surveillance cameras captured clear pictures of the dognapper, and they are hoping someone with a conscience turns him in.
"A crime like this, a person could get five years," said store owner Cindy Darrell. "In my opinion, five years is not enough for someone who would do something like this to an animal."
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)