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Rescue Puppies Stolen From Backyard In Belleville, N.J.

BELLEVILLE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Puppies up for adoption in New Jersey were stolen.

Police said they were taken from the backyard of the woman fostering them.

As CBS2's Lisa Rozner reported, the dogs were rescues from South Carolina.

Belleville police were able to recover one puppy Friday night, but another was still missing Saturday.

Authorities tracked down a man who said he bought one of the dogs, a pit bull mix named Sandy, from someone on the street. But its brother, Danny, was still out there.

"It's crazy. Our puppies, of all things, to be taken," Tiffany Cabrera told Rozner. "It's just – it's scary, very scary."

Cabrera said she took a few of her other foster dogs for a walk around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. She left 4-month-old Sandy and Danny with their mom, Rizzo in the yard and locked the gate.

When she returned about 15 minutes later, the puppies were gone.

"Our lock was broken into and our fence was open in a way that my family doesn't open it," Cabrera said.

The red and blue sweaters they were wearing were left on the ground, along with one of their collars.

Neighbors and fellow dog owners said they're shocked.

"I'd be devastated, and they're right in front of me, so I'm not OK with that at all -- in the middle of the day too," Carlos Barragan said.

"It's a big dog community here. It's amazing how they just went in, and went out, and got the dogs and nobody saw anything," Fredo Rivera added. "There's cameras everywhere."

Police said they want to speak with a man seen on surveillance video walking with a child.

"The person who has them – all they had to do was apply and they could have had them legally," said Cabrera.

She fostered the dogs through the nonprofit East Coast Canine Rescue.

She said she's most concerned that Danny is safe. She just asks the person who took him to bring him back -- no questions asked -- and she won't press charges.

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