Beloved pet tortoises stolen from Phoenix home in broad daylight

PHOENIX — Rosie Lopez has owned Stella and Oliver, her two beloved tortoises, for a decade.

Recently, they were brazenly stolen in broad daylight from the backyard of her Phoenix home.

She and her husband weren’t home when it happened because they aren’t currently living there. The home caught fire months ago and is still under reconstruction. But when she came home one day, Stella and Oliver weren’t there. 

Even though tortoises have a surprising reputation for their escape acts, Stella and Oliver had never once run away. So Lopez went to her neighbors house and asked for their security camera footage to see what happened. What she saw shocked her.

“There was two thieves that had taken the turtles,” she said.

The video shows a woman coming from the backyard pen carrying one of the 100 pound tortoises and placing it in her car.

“She was a strong little lady,” Lopez said.

A few minutes go by when another car pulls up to the home with a man getting out and walking up to the driveway. In the video you can hear the woman greet the man.

“Oh my God, he’s heavy!” woman said in the video.

The video then shows the man walk into the backyard and then come back with the other tortoise and placed it in the back of the woman’s car.

While Lopez didn’t know who the woman was, she thought she recognized the man.

“The contractor’s son that worked here,” said Lopez.

She claimed to have spoken with that worker’s father who was the lead contractor for her home repairs. She said he confirmed that the green car the man drove in belonged to him and that the man was his son. When she asked why they would take her animals.

“He said he knew nothing,” Lopez said. “He didn’t know nothing about it.”

Then Lopez said the contractor told her that his son was there to work on the home and when he saw the woman, she allegedly told him that she worked for the Arizona Humane Society and was taking the tortoises because they were neglected and neighbors were complaining. So the worker decided to help her.

12News reached out to the Humane Society about this situation and a spokesperson claimed workers have never been to that property. They also said that the humane society cannot seize people’s pets, only law enforcement can if they determine that cruelty or neglect has taken place. The humane society would then care for the animals after they were seized.

In the video, Lopez pointed out that you can hear the woman asked the man if it was okay for her to take both animals.

“To me, it almost looked like he sold them to her,” she said.

Lopez has since fired both the father and son from working on her home and has filed a report with the Phoenix Police Department. 

A police spokesperson said they are investigating this situation and have reviewed the security camera footage. They also said the man seen in the video was interviewed, but at this time no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information on the theft is encouraged to contact police.