Thieves nab pricey bulldogs from a Colorado pet store after faking a seizure, sheriff says

DENVER (AP) — Thieves nabbed a pair of high-priced bulldogs from a Colorado pet store after a man allegedly faked a seizure to distract employees while an accomplice grabbed the puppies from a pen and ran out, authorities said.

The theft, which was captured on surveillance video, happened Sunday.

Three men walked into a pet store in suburban Denver a few minutes apart, walked around and asked questions about the puppies, which sell for $4,299 each, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said. While a 37-year-old man appeared to be having a seizure, one of the other men lifted the lid off the pen where the puppies were kept, took two and began running out of the store. An employee tried to tackle him and the man dropped the puppies but managed to grab them again and run out with a second man, the sheriff’s office said.

They got into a gold Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows and no license plates that pulled up outside the store, the sheriff’s office said.

The man who allegedly faked a seizure was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony, theft, and drug possession. Investigators are looking for the other two men and the getaway driver.

One of the puppies was later returned by a woman who bought it for $1,500 from a street vendor and realized it looked like the dogs in photos shown in news coverage of the theft, the sheriff’s office said.