Pet store a crime scene again

The puppies in the window looked secure enough. The pricey pooches were protected by metal bars, two locked doors, alarm sensors and video surveillance cameras.

But for the second time in about two weeks, a pet dealer reported that a thief had squeezed into his Puppy Love pet store in La Mirada early Friday morning and snatched nearly a dozen Yorkshire terriers, Schnauzers and other dogs worth an estimated $15,000.

“I’m really mad this time,” said Paul Ro, who owns the shop with his wife, Tina. “It’s that time of the year, the holidays, and people need money. But stealing puppies is cruel. They might get sick.”

There has been a string of pet shop thefts in the Los Angeles area. Authorities say a booming black market in pedigreed canines is to blame, and that some animals are even smuggled into Mexico for sale at a steep mark-up.

By Ro’s account, the second heist appears to be the work of a highly skilled cat burglar -- someone capable of squirming through an 8-inch opening, erasing a surveillance videotape, bagging an armload of wriggling dogs and escaping while a strip mall security guard takes a bathroom break.

Neighbors remarked that the break-in seemed odd. They and police say that until this month, the strip mall had experienced little in the way of crime.

“We were surprised that it’s happening again,” said veterinary technician Jennifer Porras, who works at the Petra Pet Clinic in the same strip mall. “We think it’s just strange.”

Investigators are saying little about the incident. They haven’t ruled out any suspects, they said, including the pet shop’s owner and shop employees.

On Nov. 7, surveillance cameras at Puppy Love recorded someone breaking into the shop and shoving 16 puppies into a black trash bag. The dogs were worth more than $20,000.

This time, the robber broke into the pet store using the same techniques, Ro said. The thief broke the glass on the front door, unlocked a blue metal gate barring the entrance and squeezed through a 6- to 8-inch opening.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to an alarm at the shop just after 1:30 a.m., according to Sgt. Ray Moeller of the Norwalk station. When deputies arrived, one of the puppies was running in the parking lot, he said. Ten others were missing.

The first burglary was taped, but there was a five-hour gap on security tapes this time, Ro said. He said the thief may have erased them during the break-in.

“I have no explanation for what happened” to the tape, Ro said. “This guy was smart.”

Ro said the burglar took only young pedigreed dogs -- the most valuable. The shop owner said that insurance covered the first theft and that it was possible the latest break-in would be covered.

Moeller said that the investigation was continuing and that investigators did not have any suspects.

The area where Puppy Love is located, on Beach Boulevard in the La Mirada Center near Rosecrans Avenue, is generally safe, and crime there is fairly infrequent, Moeller said.

In rare cases, purebred puppies have been stolen by force. Earlier this year, four purebred Yorkshire terriers were stolen from a Koreatown home at gunpoint. The puppies had been advertised for sale in a newspaper.

Some stolen puppies have been sold on flashy websites. But in many cases, the black market for these dogs is decidedly low-tech. Authorities say thieves will sell them for cash in parking lots, using disposable cellphones to go undetected.

Puppies that cannot be sold might get dumped, because shelters require a fee and ask questions.

After the first robbery, Ro said, he added more locks to the front door. He said he thought the locks, bars on the windows, an alarm system and security cameras would be enough.

In interviews with reporters, Ro appealed to the thieves to be careful with his dogs.

“I don’t know if it’s your first or second visit to my shop. I don’t know if you’re going to sell them on the market or the Internet, but please take good care of my puppies,” Ro said.

“And don’t come back again.”

--

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tami Abdollah contributed to this report.