Search called off after puppy thieves deliver $600 and apology to store

The persons who stole a puppy from a Stanton pet store no longer were being sought by authorities after sending an apology letter and
$600 in cash to the business, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said no charges will be filed in the case.

“They made full restitution and there will be no action taken at the request of the business,” Amormino told City News Service.

The tiny chow was shoplifted from the Pet City store in the 7000 block of Katella Avenue Thursday afternoon. Orange County sheriff’s deputies released surveillance tape of the heist on Friday.

Amormino said  a shopper was approached by a woman Friday evening, “and offered $20 to carry an apology note and $600 cash into the store.”

The shopper walked into the store and called the sheriff. Detectives arrived and confiscated the money as evidence, but now it has been handed over to the store.

“The people at the store said the $600 was more than the puppy would have cost had it been bought at the counter,” Amormino said. “I don’t think anyone is going to go back for change.”

The woman who made the cash and apology offer had disappeared by the time deputies arrived. She was described only as a Hispanic woman, Amormino said.

In the Thursday theft, a woman distracted employees while a male accomplice somehow extracted the puppy from a locked cage. The store has had pups stolen twice in recent years, but both dogs were returned after surveillance video was shown on TV.

Amormino said the surveillance tape elicited more than 50 tips to the department about possible culprits.

“There is no need to check them all now, but it was only a matter of time until we caught them,” Amormino said. “They didn’t come in with the money until they knew we have them on video.”