WHITEHALL, Ohio -- A reward was offered for tips in connection with a theft in the Whitehall area last month.
On March 21, shortly before noon, a man and woman entered the Petland store in the 3600 block of East Broad Street in Whitehall.
The woman asked a worker about purchasing an $800 8-week-old pug puppy.
The store provides customers with an area where they can take an animal, interact with it and decide if they want to purchase it.
Employees left the woman with the puppy while they assisted other customers.
The man interacted with an employee at the customer service counter and the woman took the puppy and quickly exited through the rear door.
"On the street, the dog may fetch at least half of what it's retail price is. All these dogs have all their shots and they got all the vet treatments so this dog is ready to go and they're purebred dogs," said Columbus police Detective Gerald Milner.
The woman is described as a black woman in her mid-20s, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 110 pounds, with a light complexion, brown eyes and brown, medium-length hair. She was wearing white sunglasses, a red zip-up hooded jacket, white shirt, blue jeans and was carrying a white and black striped purse.
The man is described as a black man, approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, 150 pounds, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown, shoulder-length dreadlocks. He was wearing a black jacket with a red shirt, black pants and white tennis shoes.
Crime Stoppers has posted a reward of as much as $2,000.00 for any information received by Wednesday, April 29, 2009, that leads to the arrest/or indictment of the person(s) responsible.
Anyone with information about this crime was encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 614-645-TIPS or visit StopCrime.org to e-mail your tip. You also can text a tip to CRIMES keyword CMH.
Crime Stoppers does not use caller ID or record telephone conversations. A special coding system protects the identity of the caller.
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