A dog from Massachusetts died in the care of a Connecticut dog trainer, who misled the animal's owner and officers investigating what happened, police said Tuesday.
Saying the trainer was conducting a dog training scam, police in North Reading, Massachusetts, are seeking to charge the woman with felony counts of larceny and misleading a police officer. Four other dogs were returned to their owners, in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, during the investigation, police said.
The owner of the dog that died reported the 3-year-old French bulldog missing on Sept. 16, nearly two weeks after investigators later found it had died, according to police. The North Reading resident had sent the dog to the trainer in Haddam, Connecticut.
Investigators found that the dog died about Sept. 4 and was emaciated at the time, police said. However, the trainer, whom police didn't name, allegedly sent the owner photos of the dog purportedly being trained after Sept. 4.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
When officers interviewed the trainer, she made false or misleading statements to hinder the investigation, police said.
They were seeking to summon the trainer to a Middlesex County, Massachusets, district court clerk magistrate hearing where she would face the larceny and obstruction charges.
Police said they contacted the MSPCA over the case. They didn't say if the four other dogs recovered during the investigation were hurt.
