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Wheat Ridge Family Returns Home To Find Potential Thief Inside

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4)- Wheat Ridge police have released video and pictures in hopes of catching whoever broke into a home. The apparent burglary was disrupted when the homeowners, their child and pet arrived at their house.

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(credit: Wheat Ridge Police)

The couple had just picked up their child from daycare and had returned home with their dog Phoebe, who quickly noticed there was a stranger inside.

The family did not want their last names used, but the mother, Natalie, told CBS4, "She went to the back of the house and immediately started barking and we saw a man run through our dining room."

The couple got away from the house and called 911, a few seconds later the video shows the intruder running out towards a waiting car, one of the homeowners took pictures as the man got in a stolen white Subaru.

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(credit: CBS)

A surveillance camera also recorded the female driver. Their vehicle got as far as 35th and Pierce where it ran a stop sign and struck a car entering the intersection seriously damaging it. A fire hydrant was then hit.

"They continued driving and then dumped their essentially totaled vehicle on a random street in the neighborhood," said Wheat Ridge Police Department spokeswoman Joanna Small.

License plates and drug paraphernalia were found in the wrecked and abandoned getaway car. As for Phoebe, her owners are grateful.

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(credit: Wheat Ridge Police)

"We do know she is protectful, but grateful she is the one who encountered him, not us, because we don't want a man face to face trying to rob us, so thankfully she found him and not us."

Wheat Ridge police are asking that anyone who recognizes the burglar or driver to call the department (303) 237-2220.

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