In Dallas, burglars steal beloved dog from group home for children with autism

From The Dallas Morning News:

A dog was stolen in a daytime burglary at a Dallas group home for autistic children this week.

Group home The Yorkshire terrier, named Diva, was the house manager's pet and was beloved by the children living there, said Carolyn Garver, the clinical director of the Autism Treatment Center.

The children at the far northeast Dallas home, some as young as 6, are all wards of the state and need as much consistency as possible, the director said.

"They don't deal with change very well," Garver said.

Sometime during the day Thursday, the burglar or burglars entered the house in the 9800 block of Ferris Creek Place through a window in one of the children's rooms and appears to have rifled through the house manager's bedroom.

Other items stolen included a laptop computer, a Nintendo Wii gaming system, the dog's crate and a bag with other pet-care items.

"That was pretty tacky," Garver said.

This is the second time the house has been broken into.

The first time occurred years ago when someone took everything, including food, silverware and some of the children's things, just before the holidays, Garver said.