The 2-month-old Pomeranian puppy stolen from a Naperville, Illinois pet store last week, to the great distress of its caretakers, was apparently the victim of an inside job.

Two store employees apparently conspired to steal the Pomeranian puppy from the shop where they worked, the Chicago Tribune reports on its website. Anais M. Marquez and Karlie A. Pellock, both 19 and both employees at the Petland store in Naperville, were arrested on charges they helped with the dognapping.

Mike Isaac, co-owner of the store, was quoted by the Tribune as saying: “It’s very disappointing, it’s very disheartening because we consider our staff part of the family.”

These are soft words, considering Isaac’s previous panic at the thought of the little dog out of the safe environment of the pet store. He previously told the Tribune that the 2-month-old Pomeranian puppy was the smallest dog in the shop, weighing only 2 pounds, and that “it needs to be cared for like a newborn baby.”

The two teenagers were arrested Monday, shortly after the pet was returned by a 45-year-old Plainfield woman who took care of the pup after some youths in her neighborhood entrusted him to her.

The two young women have been fired after being charged with the theft. Naperville authorities think Marquez and Pellock were either in the store or near it at the time of the dognapping Friday morning and that they “conspired with a mutual acquaintance . . . to steal the dog and sell it to them for $60.”

A third person, identified as Emanuel Lopez, 19, of Plainfield, was filmed by a surveillance camera. An arrest warrant for felony retail theft has been issued for Lopez, who was at large Wednesday, Naperville police said.

Isaac said the pup is valued at $1,500.

The dog is safe now, as verified by a veterinarian. He is ready to be adopted by the right family.