Video shows thieves stage distraction, steal bulldog puppies from Colorado pet shop

UPDATE: Late Monday night, Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office confirmed one of the stolen English Bulldog puppies was recovered and returned safe by a good Samaritan. That person had purchased the puppy for $1,500 from a "street vendor" in Denver and realized it matched one of the images shared by investigators. 

Arapahoe County investigators are asking for the public's help in finding an English Bulldog puppy still missing after one of the puppies was returned days after being stolen from a Colorado pet store.

The puppies were stolen from Perfect Pets in Centennial on Friday, and the family business is still recovering from the crime. Those puppies total a nearly $9,000 loss for the shop, but the owner says the emotional toll is much deeper. They're hoping someone out there can help bring the puppies home.

A routine Friday afternoon at the pet shop turned to chaos in an instant. The crime was caught on surveillance video. The footage shows a man falling to the ground with an apparent medical emergency.

"He was right here and then he just backed up and threw himself to the ground," said employee Nicole LaRosa, who was behind the counter at the time.

She called 911 and went to help the man on the ground.

"I was on the phone with the cops. I was basically telling them that I was not sure if this man was having a seizure. I suspected that he was faking it," said LaRosa, said the man even got up and walked to the bathroom at one point before returning and resuming faking a seizure.

In the commotion, another person is seen walking to the back of the store, opening a display window, and grabbing two puppies. The store said the display is usually locked, but someone had asked to play with the puppies earlier and it was not re-locked afterward.

"Hey, what are you doing? Hey, stop!" another employee can be heard shouting on the video.

LaRosa and another employee tried to stop him.

"I immediately get up. I run towards the front of the store. I got towards him to try and get the puppies. He elbows me to the ground. I grab his leg, that's why we tripped," said LaRosa.

The puppies went flying and LaRosa was kicked in the face. But the man quickly scrambled to his feet and made a getaway with the dogs.

"The thief grabbed 'em like pieces of meat. They're screaming, wailing, crying," said pet shop owner Bianca Rose Larsen.

Larsen was horrified to watch the crime on the surveillance video.

"Horrifying. It's one of the sickest things I've ever seen," said Larsen. "My stomach just went in knots. My heart wrenched up."

It's deja vu for Larsen, who says two puppies were stolen from the shop less than two weeks ago and still have not been found. They've had multiple other puppy thefts in recent years.

"I gotta have eyes in the back of my head. I'm watching everything and everybody," said Larsen.

The puppies that were stolen this time are 11-week-old English Bulldog littermates. One of them was set to be adopted the very next day.

"It just is so saddening that those little guys don't get to go to a loving, nurturing home," said Larsen.

"It's just heartbreaking 'cause we don't know what they're doing with our puppies," said LaRosa. "I really hope that we can get our puppies back. That's the main thing."

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office believes there were four people involved in this theft. The man who allegedly faked a seizure, Timothy Davis, was arrested Friday. But authorities are hoping to catch the other three suspects and save the other puppy. Both puppies were microchipped. One was returned after a woman paid $1,500 for the purebred dog from a street vendor in Denver. Investigators are searching for the other puppy. 

Thanks to a quick photo snapped by one of the employees, authorities know the thieves got away in a gold Cadillac Escalade. Anyone who knows where the thieves or other puppy could be is asked to contact the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.