Home invaders steal New Castle woman’s two puppies

Staff report

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

Two Boston terrier puppies were stolen Wednesday during a morning home invasion here.

According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, 75-year-old homeowner Irene Matas fears the people responsible may sell the 11-week-old puppies to make quick cash.

“They could have emptied my house out, and I wouldn’t care. But to take those two precious little animals, what goes through people’s minds?” Matas said.

Matas, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, had the puppies for only three weeks. She got them after her dog Patches became ill and had to be put down.

Matas and her brother were at home at the time, asleep in back bedrooms. The invaders entered the home through the back door. They not only took the puppies but a 42-inch flat-screen TV, the victim’s purse and a digital camera, sometime between midnight and 6:30 a.m.

The puppies were stolen from an enclosed playpen in the family room.

“Whoever has them, please, please, please return them to me,” Matas says. “But if you do have them, and for some reason you cannot do this, then please take care of them.”

The New Castle woman said the pups respond to the names “Peanuts” and “Sissy.” Peanuts, a male Boston terrier weighing only about 21/2 pounds, has a distinctive black mark on his nose that looks like a tiny dog bone. Sissy, a female Boston terrier weighing just over 4 pounds, has a tiny black mark on her forehead, and she has four white boots, or four white legs, which is said to be unusual for a Boston terrier whose back legs are normally black.

Matas is offering a reward with no questions asked for the return of the puppies. Call 724-658-8855 or 724-714-8084.