Iowa City Police Identify, Charge Tiffin Woman in Petland Puppy Theft

A Tiffin woman is facing two felony theft charges for allegedly kidnapping two puppies from Petland over the last six months.

According to a Iowa City Police media release, officers responded to Petland on Feb. 22 for the report of a stolen dog-- a young poodle. After information about the theft, including video footage of the suspects, was released by Petland, the Iowa City Police received numerous calls from the public identifying a potential suspect.

An Iowa City Police complaint states that the footage from the incident on Feb. 10 showed an older female and a younger female leaving the Petland store with a miniature poodle in their possession.

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Officers then followed up on this information, located the suspect, and recovered the poodle, returning it to Petland unharmed. The woman and the younger female suspect matched the descriptions from the footage, according to police.

The police investigated the situation further, and this led to the arrest of Diana Rae Chance, 45, of Tiffin, as well as the recovery of a second dog, a dachshund, that was allegedly stolen from Petland in September 2012.

According to an Iowa City Police complaint, authorities were able to identify the dachshund and miniature poode puppies by scanning the chips implanted by Iowa City Animal Control. Both chips indicated a match, according to police complaints.

Chance was arrested on February 28th and has been charged with second-degree theft possession of stolen property, a Class D felony, for stealing the dachshund valued at $1,499.99; second-degree theft, also a Class D felony for stealing the poodle, valued at $1,799.99; and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a simple misdemeanor.