Thieves pretend a seizure, steal bulldog puppies value over $8,000 in videotaped heist, authorities say

A trio of thieves staged a seizure to divert consideration as a pair of priceless bulldog puppies was snatched from a Denver-area pet retailer over the weekend, authorities stated.

On Monday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Workplace stated the puppies stay lacking and that three suspects within the Friday afternoon heist had been at giant. It requested for the general public’s assist monitoring down the pets and the suspects.

The alleged heist after 1:30 p.m. Friday was captured on the shop’s safety video system, stated supervisor Bianca Rose, whose household owns Good Pets in Centennial, Colorado, a metropolis about 14 miles south of downtown Denver.

After the mud settled, a person who had fallen to the bottom to pretend a seizure — allegedly to divert consideration from the theft of the 2 canines — stayed down and was taken into custody by arriving regulation enforcement officers, Rose stated.

As the person was being detained, a pipe fell from his clothes, Rose stated.

The 2 different suspects, each males, bought away, and the 11-month-old male puppies, every value $4,300, remained lacking, Rose stated.

“We should not have both canine again,” she stated.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Workplace recognized the person taken into custody as Timothy Davis, 37. He was booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony, theft, and drug possession, the sheriff’s workplace stated in a press release Monday.

Jail information present Davis was behind bars primarily based on $2,500 bond, with an preliminary courtroom date scheduled for Thursday.

The person “faked the seizure,” the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in its assertion.

It is not clear if Davis has been formally charged or if he has retained an lawyer for the case. The realm district lawyer’s workplace and public defender’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for data Monday night time.

The sheriff’s workplace stated a fourth suspect was behind the wheel of a getaway car, described as a gold Cadillac Escalade with chrome wheels, and it distributed a photograph of the car, a 2006 via 2013 short-wheelbase Escalade non-ESV that the sheriff’s workplace stated had tinted home windows and no license plates.

Based on Rose, the trio entered the shop and instantly appeared round in any respect the totally different canines. That is uncommon, as a result of patrons normally concentrate on one pen and pet the puppies, she stated.

One of many males flopped to the bottom, faking a seizure to distract the staff, whereas one other went to the bulldogs’ pen, pulled the highest off and grabbed the one two English bulldog puppies within the retailer, Rose stated.

When an worker tried to sort out the alleged thief, he fell and fumbled the canines, the sheriff’s workplace stated in its assertion. The worker, Rose stated, was kicked within the face within the scuffle.

The suspect bought up, grabbed the the puppies and dashed outdoors with the opposite suspect, the sheriff’s workplace stated. They hopped within the Cadillac and took off, the sheriff’s workplace stated.

“Deputies are nonetheless trying to find the opposite three suspects,” the sheriff’s workplace stated.

Rose stated one other theft of high-value canines, together with a shih tzu valued at greater than $2,000, came about on the retailer Feb. 12, when a girl with a stroller and one other lady carrying a child used a narrative of buying hamsters for a niece and nephew as a diversion.

Her father was working on the time and was busy behind the shop, boxing up free meals for the hamsters — one among which he deliberate handy to the ladies freed from cost — once they snatched the canines, Rose stated.