SOUTHWEST RANCHES, FLA. (WSVN) - A Southwest Ranches couple had their rental car stolen, Tuesday night, while both of their dogs were still inside the vehicle.
Luna, a schnauzer, and Niño, a Yorkie mix, were left inside their owners’ rented Toyota Corolla in front of their Southwest Ranches home, for no more 10 minutes, the couple said.
After grabbing some dog food from their home, the couple found their Corolla and both dogs missing, which happened between 11:30 p.m. and midnight.
The vehicle was recovered, Wednesday, in Plantation, by police, who also took two people in custody. Luna was returned to its owners, however Niño was not found inside of the car and remains missing.
For dog owner Sergio Quintero, nothing inside the car matters as much as Niño.
“My whole wardrobe is in my car,” said Quintero. “All my clothes, all my stuff, all my money — everything is in there. I don’t care about that. I just want my dog back.”
Owner Ana Rojas said she too simply wants Niño back in her arms. “If anybody has our dog, we just want it back,” she said. “We will think about not pressing charges, but we really just care about getting our dog back.”
Rojas and Quintero want the teenagers held responsible.
“I hope the kids who got caught, you know, they get the punishment they deserve, and I hope they learn from their lessons and maybe they could grow as people and not do things like that,” Quintero said.
“To the people who took our car, you get what you deserve and you should’ve maybe thought about it a little bit before you did it,” Rojas said.
They’ve been putting up flyers around the community.
“Definitely relieved by the fact that all my stuff was found but the main thing, you know a living animal, is what I’m still really worried about,” Quintero said.
They checked out local animal shelters and at the Humane Society of Broward County, Wednesday afternoon, received a major tip.
“I started like basically giving up and then I was about to leave, and the lady at the front desk, she’s like, ‘What’s your dog look like?'” Quintero said.
It turns, he said, a woman had come into the shelter moments earlier with a stray matching Niño’s description. The Humane Society doesn’t take in strays, so the woman left with the dog, missing Quintero by minutes.
“I’m almost sure it’s my dog so, I don’t know who the lady is that has my dog, but I do know he’s safe,” Quintero said. “She told the guy at the front desk that she was gonna give him some food for the night.”
Since the woman told the Humane Society that she found the dog in Southwest Ranches, Quintero walked around looking again.
“If I get my dog back we basically got everything and I say everything because whatever, if my money’s gone or whatever — that’s not everything to me. To me, everything is the two dogs.”
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