(06-01) 17:42 PDT VACAVILLE -- There are thieves and then there are thieves who steal puppies from children.
A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a man who shoved a 10-year-old Vacaville boy to the ground, snatched his favorite puppy and jumped into a getaway car as the distraught boy screamed for his pet.
"I think it is horrible," said Vacaville police Sgt. Denise Quatman, who on Friday made a plea to the public to help investigators find the pet-napper and return the little dog to its owner. "It's not something that we've encountered before."
The incident happened Wednesday as the boy was playing with a litter of 5-week-old American bulldog puppies inside a wire kennel in the front yard of his family's residence on Alamo Drive.
Quatman said the boy's parents were picking up one of his siblings from school at about 3 p.m. when a man walked up and asked the boy if he could buy one of the pups. The boy, who was holding one puppy in his arms at the time, told the man that the puppies were not for sale because they were still too young and had not been weaned.
The suspect suddenly grabbed the puppy from the boy's arm, pushed the 10-year-old to the ground and started running.
"The boy followed after him, screaming for him to give him his puppy back," Quatman said.
The suspect jumped into a light green, newer model four-door sedan driven by someone else. They were last seen traveling on Alamo Drive toward Interstate 80, Quatman said. She described the suspect as an 18- to 20-year-old man, about 6 feet tall and with a medium build.
"It looks like the event was planned. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing," Quatman said. "An accomplice was waiting in a car around the corner."
Solano Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information about the thieves or the missing puppy.
Quatman said the 1300 block of Alamo Drive is a busy area with a lot of traffic, so there was ample opportunity for the suspects to stake out the house without being noticed. Purebred bulldogs like the one stolen usually sell for between $1,500 and $2,000.
"We're hoping that people will provide information so we can locate the dog," Quatman said. "Maybe somebody saw or knows these guys and knows that they shouldn't have a dog."
Puppies are generally not ready for adoption until they have been weaned from the mother at around 6 to 8 weeks.
"The person who did it did not have a lot of regard for the young man, not to mention a 5-week old puppy that has not been weaned yet," Quatman said.
It is just lucky, she said, that the boy was not injured.
"I was impressed with the way he handled himself," she said. "He was obviously upset and scared, but he was angry, too, because he loved the dog. He's kind of beating himself up now for not holding onto the dog. He misses the puppy. He had become very attached."
Anyone with information about the suspect is urged to call Vacaville police at (707) 449-5200. Solano Crime Stoppers can be reached at (707) 664-STOP.
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