Stolen French bulldog reunited with owner who got beat up, ribs broken in attack
A day after masked men beat him up, broke two of his ribs and stole his French bulldog during an early-morning walk in Ladera Heights, the owner was reunited Thursday with his prized pup, Bruno.
Stefan Becker told The Times that an animal shelter had called to inform him that his nearly 3-year-old dog had been handed over to it.
“It’s our Bruno. We got him safe and sound!” he said in a text message.
Becker said he was walking Bruno around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday when he was confronted in the 6400 block of Wooster Avenue by a group of three or four men who exited a silver Toyota Camry. The men, who were wearing hoodies, gloves and ski masks, beat Becker and took his dog, he said.
Trish Bauer and her family officially adopted a 12-year-old German shepherd named Cooper exactly a year after she lost her baby, Millie, to a stillborn birth.
One man yelled, “Give me the f—ing dog!” Becker said.
Becker said a man punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Bruno ran away, and one or two men began kicking Becker in the torso, he said, breaking two of his ribs.
A man ran after Bruno and picked him up as the dog “screamed and yelled,” according to Becker. The men got into the Camry and drove away, he said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has not made any arrests in the case.
Southern California is seeing a rash of parrot thefts. The pricey feathered companions have been stolen from pet stores, porches, even a vet.
The robbery was the latest in a string of French bulldog thefts in Los Angeles over the last few years. In 2021, Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs were stolen after thieves shot her dogwalker in Hollywood.
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