A Connecticut dog trainer has reportedly pleaded not guilty after being accused of a scam where a Massachusetts woman received multiple photos of her 3-year-old dog while they were staying with the trainer — but the dog had died almost two weeks earlier, officials said.
Josephine “Josie” Ragland pleaded not guilty to charges of larceny over $1,200 by false pretenses and intimidation of a witness, Boston.com reported. She was arraigned in Woburn District Court on Wednesday.
The owner of the French bulldog, a North Reading resident, had went to police on Sept. 16, and told officers their dog had not been returned by its trainer after an agreed-upon boarding and training period, the department said.
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Officials found out that the 3-year-old dog had actually died on or about Sept. 4, almost two weeks prior. A necropsy of the dog’s body was performed by the University of Connecticut, which found the dog was emaciated when it died, the police department said.
Ragland also lied and misled the police officers about the situation to purposely hinder the department’s investigation, police said.
Four other dogs in the trainer’s care were recovered and brought safely back to their owners in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut, according to police.
Former clients of the trainer’s in California have also accused her of abusing and neglecting their dogs, Boston.com reported.
NBC Bay Area reported the trainer took in a woman’s German Shepherd but returned the wrong dog. She later told the California woman the dog had died.
