Deer Park family reunited with stolen dogs sold on Craiglist

DEER PARK, TX (KTRK) -- Two Maltese dogs that were stolen in Deer Park and then sold on Craigslist have been reunited with their owners. And it was thanks to law enforcement and an ABC13 story.

"I can't even begin to describe how happy we are. We're overjoyed," said their owner Nelly Lopez.

The two Maltese pups went missing early this month. Days later, a Craigslist post confirmed Lopez's worst fear: that it was something more devious.

"I found an ad that somebody else had posted calling the thief out for being a liar and I contacted that person," Lopez told ABC13. "She gave me the phone number of the person who was selling the dogs. I contacted the police."

"She said she found the dogs and that she gave them away, which we found to be inaccurate," said Lt. Frank Hart with Deer Park Police.

Lt. Hart says the detective on the case subpoenaed the alleged dog thief's phone records and started making calls.

"Once we reached out to the family that bought them and they saw the news broadcast as well as our conversation, they went ahead and called us and let us know they had them."

We're told it was an elderly couple who bought the dogs for $450.

"They were shocked the dogs were stolen. Naturally they're upset because they'd grown attached to the dogs and they're going miss them, but I'm very happy they gave them back," Lopez said. "They were a little bit worried that the cops were going to come after them thinking they were the ones who stole the dogs."

The couple surrendered the pups to police Monday morning. Lopez says she's glad they did the right thing. And her family plans to give them that $450 back.

Police say charges on the alleged dog thief are pending.