I read this as they learned of the theft in November, not six months later. It even says he was questioned about the theft in November.
"Detective Jessee Hinson and I spoke to Spikes in late November to determine if he had any information on the location of the stolen items. We had also recently learned that the entire Buzzy animatronic was later stolen from the attraction, separately from the clothing. Spikes denied any firsthand knowledge of the thefts, but provided vague information of people we could look into, but would not provide last names or specifics. Spikes stated he would contact us if he heard anything."
Thank-you. At least you understand the pluperfect tense.
The pluperfect (or plusquamperfect) is a type of verb form, generally treated as one of the tenses in certain languages, used to refer to an action at a time earlier than a time in the past already referred to. Examples in English are: "we had arrived"; "they had written".
The narrative is what took place in the past, in November, during the time Spikes was interrogated. That is the time when they "had recently learned"(incorrectly) that Buzzy was stolen.
Again, they "learned" it. Not "discovered." Not "reported by Disney." This is what was being reported by the urbexers when they showed Buzzy "missing" in their photos.