Woman indicted in puppy scam
(Knoxville News-Sentinel November 13, 2007)
Blountville resident charged with fraud when selling dogs
The Web sites promised healthy purebred pooches sired at a Sullivan County, Tenn., kennel.
A federal indictment alleges the bulldog puppies were instead imported from Russia and nearby countries, afflicted with all manners of medical maladies and unfit for breeding.
In an indictment prepared by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr, Blountville resident Gina De'Lynn Price is accused of making money hand over fist by defrauding dozens of customers who paid thousands for what they believed to be purebred English and French bulldog puppies - all while Price drew Social Security disability benefits.
Price faces a January trial in U.S. District Court in Greeneville on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, lying to the Social Security Administration and trying to intimidate witnesses against her.
According to the indictment, Price had been running a puppy scam from September 2002 to May 2006, marketing through various Web sites purebred bulldogs she claimed were sired at her Rebel Ridge Kennels facility.
Her customers hailed from all over the United States and other countries, including Canada.
"(Price) advertised on these Web sites that the bulldogs were born at the kennel," the indictment alleged. "A health guarantee was set forth on the Web sites, assuring the puppies were in good health and had received appropriate medical inoculations and care. … Likewise, the Web site also plainly stated that the puppy was sold with full American Kennel Club registration."
She sold the puppies for prices ranging from $1,200 to $2,800, with another $200 added on to obtain AKC registration papers.
Harr alleges Price wasn't breeding bulldogs but, instead, importing them from Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Russia. She was paying $300 to $1,000 per puppy. At most, the bulldogs received a "cursory examination to obtain permission to ship live animals" but were not screened by a veterinarian, the indictment alleged.
"Many of the puppies were sold and shipped with genetic and hereditary diseases including heart murmur, hip dysplasia and cleft palate," according to the indictment.
Price "would misrepresent the pedigree and ability to register the puppies" with AKC, Harr wrote. Often, the paperwork accompanying the dogs did not match up with identifying information for the dog, the prosecutor alleged.
The indictment alleges several examples of duped customers, including the following:
- Theresa Nappi of Lincroft, N.Y., paid Price $2,000 for a puppy that, weeks later, had to be euthanized “due to respiratory infection and diarrhea.” The puppy’s listed owner was false.
- Ruth Golf of Grafton, W.Va., ordered a puppy for $2,000. Price, the indictment alleged, promised the pooch was AKC registered. It wasn’t. The puppy later was diagnosed as having a genetic eye disorder.
- Doreen Sykes of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, bought two puppies for nearly $4,000. Both had been imported rather than bred at the Blountville kennel, and one “was diagnosed with canine herpes, a highly contagious disease,” the indictment stated.
- Ulla Jensen of Hayward, Calif., bought three puppies after being assured by Price the dogs were not imported. She paid a total of $5,600. As it turned out, one had been imported from Latvia and two from Russia. “Two of the puppies have had surgery for soft palate genetic deformity,”according to the indictment.
- Price allegedly assured Eric Yost of Glen Allen, Va., the puppy, which appeared ill upon delivery, “only had a cold.” The dog had to be euthanized for a fatal genetic disorder.
- The English bulldog Pascale Ledoyen of Canada bought from Price for $2,791 had a severe heart murmur.
The indictment also lists a series of faked and flawed paperwork Price's customers received, including faulty pedigree documentation listing fictitious owners.
Price also is accused of trying to "intimidate and corruptly persuade Allison Paige Baird, Mary Ann Darby and Marilyn Hale" from Dec. 3, 2006 to Jan. 1 to keep them from testifying at "an official proceeding." It's not clear, however, who the three women are, how they are connected to Price or in what proceeding their testimony was sought.
Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.