Annette Aiassa is a widow with no children. But she had her 6-pound Maltipoo, Belle.

That is, until a man yanked the dog from her locked SUV on Wednesday afternoon.

The tiny 15-month-old Maltese mix with orange pom-poms on her head (dyed for Halloween) and a rhinestone collar tag was pulled through a window of the 67-year-old woman's 2003 purple Lincoln Navigator about 2:30 p.m. while Aiassa was inside the AT&T store at Story and King roads in San Jose.

"They just took my baby," Aiassa said. "I left the windows down a little too much."

Aiassa credited three employees at the AT&T store, where she was trying to sync up some computer equipment, for racing around the parking lot and spotting the thief long enough to provide a brief description: a man standing about 5 feet 8 inches tall wearing a black jacket and bluejeans who drove off in a gray minivan.

"Her BlackBerry was acting up, and we were doing everything possible to make it work," said Michael Zamora, one of the AT&T employees who helped.

Co-workers Eric Jara and Angel Fernandez also heard a piercing yelp from her car, stationed right outside the store in the back parking lot, and rushed outside to see what was going on.

"She kept screaming, 'They took my dog, they took my dog,' " Zamora said. "It's really sad."

San Jose police dusted the SUV for fingerprints and took a report, which is now filed with the burglary unit. A nearby bank also

may have captured the theft on video surveillance.

Anyone with information about Belle's whereabouts can call the San Jose police Burglary Unit at 408-277-4521.

http://www.mercurynews.co...i_13917800


[Edited 12/3/09 23:37pm]
[Edited 12/5/09 23:12pm]

awwww... that's really low

Oh yes, STORY AND KING my old stomping grounds.

This is horrible.

thats effed up

Is there nothing these criminals won't do?

I really hope they find her dog,and that people in the San Jose area are on the look out. They had her on TV last night,and I felt SO sad for her. She said that if they give her baby back she would give them anything they want.
[Edited 12/4/09 8:47am]

Awful. Too bad the dog is apparently not microchipped.

Lammastide said:

The dog is microchipped. I did'nt post the entire article,but it's on the link I posted.

EmeraldSkies said:

Oh, cool!

The lady had her dog returned to her.

EmeraldSkies said:

Yay!