Puppies from the Family Pet & Aquarium, stolen earlier were returned to the store. A burglary at the Somerset Plaza store sent the owner B. J. Brann scrambling to put the word out about the stolen dogs. Nashua police detectives traveled to Milford to work with police there and brought the puppies back to the city.

Brann had feared that whoever stole the dogs would not care for them properly. She discovered the puppies were missing when opening the store. The store’s rear door had been pried open, the cash register was moved, and the doors to the dogs’ cages were open and the puppies were gone, she said.

  (Photo courtesy of Bob Hammerstrom/the Nashua Telegraph)

Brann thinks the store was burglarized shortly before daybreak. There was an obvious sign that the puppies were there most of the evening: their cages had a night’s worth of poop.

Brann reunited with her lost pooches at the Nashua Rescue Hospital. Staff there confirmed the puppies’ identities by checking data on microchips that are embedded in the dogs’ skin, Brann said. “They were very hungry and tired,” she said.

She had the cockalier and dachshund at the store for less than a week before the burglary.

Update 6/17/10:  A Milford man who is charged with breaking into a pet store and stealing two puppies saw the dogs beforehand and decided he had to have them, police said.

Kevin Wheeler, 24, faces a felony burglary charge and a felony theft charge for allegedly prying open the rear entrance of a Somerset Plaza pet store and stealing cash and the pooches.

Nashua police arrested Wheeler after he had earlier cooperated with Milford police.

“He had been in the store earlier,” police Lt. George McCarthy said. “He knew what he wanted, waited for the business to close and pried open the back door.”

Media coverage led someone to anonymously call Nashua and Milford police and point the finger at Wheeler, McCarthy said.

Wheeler agreed to be interviewed at Milford Police Department and cooperated with officers, Milford Police Chief Fred Douglas said. Nashua police detectives later traveled to Milford to collect the puppies.

The puppies had baths upon their return.

Before the thefts, the cockalier was selling for $900 and the dachshund for $800.

Wheeler was released on $2,500 personal recognizance and $500 cash bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned at Nashua District Court on July 1.

Reference:

Nashua Telegraph