Burglary victim says family puppy, Christmas gifts stolen from Phoenix home

It wasn't enough for a burglar to break into a Phoenix family's home and upend their holiday by stealing presents and other items.

The family's puppy was taken, too.

"We're kind of in shock," Raghuram Vadarevu said.

Vadarevu said he left for work at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday along with his wife, Mona, who was going to drop off their 8-year-old daughter at school.

When Mona returned home a few hours later, the new family puppy — an 11-week-old Cavapoo (a combination Cavalier King Charles spaniel and poodle) named Rosa — wasn't there. The pup's food and water bowls were gone and food was scattered across the floor.

Vadarevu, an enterprise editor for the Associated Press' Western region, said his wife then noticed their back door was wide open. She called 911 to report the break-in, he said.

According to Vadarevu, the invader not only stole the puppy and Christmas gifts, but a laptop and an iPad.

The family simply wants Rosa back. They had the puppy for about 2½ weeks, Vadarevu said: She came from a breeder in Oklahoma and her arrival was a birthday gift for himself and his daughter.

"We can replace all the other stuff," he said.

Vadarevu said his wife saw someone suspicious ringing the neighbor's doorbell across the street before she left their home near Oraibi Drive and 36th Place. She described him as a young man with a light beard who wore a red-and-black baseball cap and puffy red-and-black pants.

Return to azcentral.com for more details.