A pet store robbery was caught on surveillance footage as a pair of thieves stole two English bulldog puppies from Perfect Pets in Centennial, Colorado-with one of them faking a seizure to create a distraction.
Security footage shows the suspects lingering near the register before one collapses onto the floor, arms outstretched, as if suffering from a medical emergency.
As staff and customers rushed to check on him, his accomplice moved toward the puppy display cases.
In the video, the second suspect rips the cover off a display case and grabs two English bulldog puppies. A store employee quickly notices and shouts, “Hey, what’re you doing? No, stop!” before staff rush to intervene. In the ensuing scuffle, the thief loses his grip on the puppies, sending them tumbling across the floor one even crashing into a card display rack.
Bianca Rose Larsen, the manager of Perfect Pets, said the store has been robbed twice within a month.
Larsen said that two additional puppies were stolen from the store on Feb. 12 by a woman carrying a baby and another woman pushing a stroller. One of the woman told Larsen she was purchasing hamsters for a niece and nephew as a distraction to take a shih tzu valued at more than $2,000, Larsen said.
One of the puppies was returned on Monday. Officials said a woman bought it for $1,500 from a street vendor and returned it to the store.
Perfect Pets is offering a $4,000 reward for the safe return of both puppies, as well as the arrest of the last thief if possible.
The man who authorities said faked a seizure was identified as Timothy Davis, 37. Davis was apprehended by law enforcement officers who responded to the scene and was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, theft and drug possession. Davis was behind bars based on $2,500 bond, with an initial court date scheduled for Thursday, according to jail records.
