Car stolen in Center City with dog inside; owners offering reward

CENTER CITY, PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A crime of opportunity in Philadelphia has a poor pup separated from his owner. Marielle Halper reached out to FOX 29 in an effort to help get her best friend home.

She says Charlie was in her dad's car, a 2010 silver Buick Lacrosse, on 20th near Market Street on Saturday. When he stepped away, the car was stolen with Charlie still inside. The car was last tracked at Broad Street and West Grange Street.

Halper, a Temple student, is doing everything she can to get him back, even going door-to-door trying to find him. She's even offering a $1000 dollar reward, no questions asked.

"I will do whatever it takes to make things right," Halper told FOX 29. "[Charlie] was the first dog we got when we moved into our first home in Bala Cynwyd when I was 9-years-old."

Police say they are looking at surveillance video of the theft.

Halper says she will back out on Monday to gather more surveillance video and post more reward flyers.

She says 12-year-old Charlie, a Bison Maltese mix, can be jittery and urges viewers not to chase him if they see him.

"We recently lost his mommy," Halper notes on her Facebook page Team Charlie, referring to her late step-mother. "We can't afford to lose him too."