Men caught on camera stealing puppies are not strangers to the owners

A family is left devastated after a strange crime is caught on their home surveillance system.  Criminals are caught on camera carting away tiny puppies from a gated and locked backyard.  The padlock on the gate is supposed to protect from predators but two young men, who are not strangers to the family, are seen on video hopping the fence and shoving the family’s six Husky puppies into a bag and getting away.

"It is pretty heartbreaking,” explains 19-year-old Evelyn Salgado.  It sounds like something we would see from Disney villain Cruella DeVille but police say the two young men caught on camera carrying away the canines are 19-year-old Jose Reyes and 17-year-old Victor Galindo.

"I didn’t believe it.  It was a shock,” adds Salgado.  It was such a shock because Salgado has known the two suspects, two cousins, since grade school.  She used to date Reyes in middle school.

"We kept in touch just as friends.  I never thought he would do anything to hurt my family or me.  When I first saw the video I cried.   It was pretty sad knowing somebody betrayed me, people you trust and you grew up with.  You never really know somebody,” adds Salgado.

The Husky puppies were only six weeks old when they were shoved into bags on March 2, 2017 and stolen from the family’s backyard.  In the video you can see the puppies' mom Cookie running frantically during the theft.

“For so long we tried to get her pregnant and she was never capable and one day her stomach just started growing,” says Salgado.  Now Cookie’s first set of puppies were stolen.  Harris County Constable Precinct 4 Deputies have also seen the video and have charged Reyes and Galindo.

”They’re both charged with class A misdemeanor theft.  One of them has bonded out already.  The other one is still currently wanted with a warrant out for his arrest,” explains Precinct-4 Deputy Constable Captain James Blackledge.  Reyes may not have been arrested but he has spoken with investigators by phone.  “He told us they already sold all of them so he basically admitted he had them,” explains Captain Blackledge. 

Although five of the Husky puppies were sold, detectives were told a sixth, the only girl in the litter, could be found in a trash can in the park. Indeed little Princess was discovered there in a box.  Fortunately, she was still alive.  “She was really, really scared.  When I got her into my arms she was shaking a lot.  Her claws were like digging into my skin,” says Salgado.

This type of crime carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.  The family hopes whoever bought Husky puppies in the last couple weeks for $200-300 will realize they were that inexpensive for a reason.  “We’re hoping people out there realize they bought stolen puppies and know there is a family that misses them and we want them back,” says Salgado.   Contact the Precinct 4 Constables Office if you know where the puppies might be.

Investigators say without the cameras at their home this crime likely never would have been solved.