St. Paul man whose car was stolen with puppy inside offers $5K reward

A St. Paul man whose car with a 4-month-old puppy inside was stolen from his St. Paul home early Monday is offering a $5,000 reward in hopes of getting the dog back.

"I have no children and my dog means more to me than anything else in the world," Matt Thoreen wrote in an urgent plea for help in finding Kua, his beloved bull mastiff. "Kua is pretty much the only thing that brings any type of happiness to my life these days."

Thoreen had loaded Kua into a kennel and placed her in the back of his dark blue 2006 Audi A6 wagon with Wisconsin plates AMY-3255 that was parked on the 1700 block of James Avenue in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. Thoreen left the car running as he ran back inside his home to get his work boots. When he came back about a minute later, the car and dog, who was wearing a red collar, were gone, he said.

"This is a good neighborhood and I certainly was not expecting someone to be lurking at 6 a.m. on a cold morning," he wrote when announcing the reward. "I don't care about the car, but I need to get my dog back."

St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said no arrests have been made as of Tuesday morning and neither the car or dog had been found. Anyone with information can call 651-291-1111, he said.