[Bizzymammabee]

This happened not so far from my house. I mean isn't it bad enough that they robbed the dang people but that was dirty stealing their yorkie.

Cat burglar takes dog

Cruel crook robs Qns. family
of money, gems - even the pet pooch

BY ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Little Deanna Tarantola, 2, is consoled by parents Diana and Steve, as she holds photo of beloved dog named Buddy. Pooch has been missing since break-in Saturday night.


A crook who broke into a Queens home wasn't satisfied with the usual haul of cash, jewelry and electronics - he also stole the family's adored Yorkshire terrier.
Now Diana Tarantola, 31, is trying to find the words to explain to her 2-year-old daughter that her pet, Buddy, may never come home.

"I don't know what to tell her," Tarantola said of her toddler, Deanna. "She keeps asking about Buddy every time she sees something that reminds her of him."

Tarantola and her husband were at a friend's birthday party Saturday night when someone climbed onto a deck and broke a window lock at their Middle Village home.

The couple returned about 10 p.m. to an eerie silence.

"We didn't hear the dog barking," she said. "My husband asked me if I left the dog outside."

They searched their home and found their valuables, including family heirlooms, were gone. Their tenants on the ground floor of the two-story home also had been robbed of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry.

But it was the loss of Buddy that hurt the most.

"Keep everything else," Tarantola said, appealing to the dog thief. "Keep the money. Keep the jewelry."

She offered a $500 reward for the pup's return.

Investigators are sure the dog was stolen because the thief locked the window behind him when he left. Detectives are investigating whether the break-in is linked to six other crimes in the area, a police source said.

Tarantola, a part-time assistant for JP Morgan Chase, just hopes the intruder has a heart.

"I don't care how they do it," she said, staring at a picture of her daughter and Buddy, a 12-pound beige and gray pooch.

"Just give us our dog back."