The homeless man who stole Miss Cooper the bunny from a SoHo boutique pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in jail yesterday—and promptly released as he's been locked up, unable to make $500 bail, since March. According to Thomas Smith he stole the bunny because he was drunk and his girlfriend wanted it—the things we do for love!

"I was a little bit drunk and my girlfriend coaxed me towards it," said Smith, 62, of the bunny he turned over to police four days after stealing it from the Alexander Berardi boutique in SoHo last March. "I didn't want to keep it anyway."

Interestingly, it turns out Miss Cooper wasn't the only animal that Smith has stolen. In 2007, Smith served 15 days for briefly walking off with a German shepherd that had been tied up outside a Duane Reade in the Village. Which allowed the judge yesterday to incredulously point out, "So you're a recidivist! A serial animal kidnapper!"

Meanwhile, police are still seeking Smith's girlfriend at the time Andrea Ruggieri for charges of petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Prosecutors said they have a warrant out for her arrest because she blew off her last court appearance.