A Bethlehem man whose dog was stolen says the family of the woman who took the dog have returned the animal home.
It's a stolen pet story with a happy ending -- one that occurred just after NBC10 shared the details on the theft of a dog in Bethlehem.
On Tuesday, Santiago Rengifo, of Bethlehem, was reunited with his two-year-old purebred German shorthair, Juno, after the animal was stolen from his apartment the day before.
NBC10's Yukare Nakayama shared Rengifo's story on Tuesday afternoon, with Rengifo saying Juno went missing from his apartment just before the pair planned to head out together on a camping trip.
"Its just shocking, it happened so fast," he told NBC10. "I would’ve never expected something like that to happen.”
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He spent Monday posting flyers around town and seeking answers after surveillance video from his building showed a woman leaving the complex with his dog.
In an incident that happened around 1 p.m. on Monday, Rengifo said he walked into his apartment and called his dog's name to no avail.
Then, he said, he noticed something was amiss.
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"The first thing I see is a coffee cup on my kitchen table that I hadn’t seen before," he said.
Nakayama's story on the theft of Juno aired in NBC10's 5 o'clock news broadcast on Tuesday.
Then, in an update that same afternoon, police said that at about 5:15 p.m., family members of the woman who officials said took the animal returned the dog to the police.
Shortly afterward, Juno and Rengifo were reunited.
According to police officials, the animal was returned in good health and no charges have been filled against the individual believed responsible for this incident.
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