State police: Shelter owner claimed he euthanized phantom dogs
Share with others:
Pennsylvania State Police say the owner of a McKees Rocks animal shelter collected more than $37,000 in state reimbursement for euthanizing dogs that did not exist.
Bernard Dudash, 74, of Kennedy Township, owner of Triangle Pet Control Services, will be charged by summons with theft by deception and tampering with records, according to state police, although the magistrate's office said today they had yet to receive any paperwork in the case.
Mr. Dudash's company had contracts with several municipalities and was reimbursed to dispose of dogs at $30 an animal. State troopers with the organized crime unit in Pittsburgh said he turned in quarterly reports to the Department of Agriculture that listed kennel records and the number of dogs he destroyed. He billed the municipalities for the dogs he said he euthanized, and the state paid the bill.
But troopers said that from July 2007 through April of last year, he began inflating the number of dogs being euthanized.
Police said he stole a total of $37,384.
First Published January 13, 2012 12:00 am
