Episode Transcript
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Gordon Bird here with Beyond the Newssome disturbing allegations of animal abuse and cruelty
against the owner of a Sarasota petgrooming business leading to criminal charges. We
have Cynthia McLoughlin, a Sarasota Policecommunications specialist, to talk with us about
the allegations. Cynthia McLoughlin, Welcometo Beyond the News. Thank you for
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having me. All Right, you'vearrested the owner of a pet grooming store
on South Tamiami Trail. It's calledWolfgang Bakery and Grooming. Tell us about
the arrest and the allegations that areleveled against the owner. Sure, so,
our Sarasota Police detectives were actually initiallyinvestigating this franchise for financial crimes.
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Diana Stevens is the one that reportedthese financial crimes, and while our detectives
were interviewing other employees of the business, that's when they uncovered these horrendous allegations
of a pattern of animal abuse andanimal cruelty committed by the owner of the
business, Diana Stevens. So,your detectives uncovered this in the process of
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talking about the employee, talking tothe employees about alleged financial crimes. So
what were they hearing and what werethey able to substantiate that led to these
criminal charges. Yeah, so whiletalking with our detectives about the possible financial
crimes, that investigation is still open. By the way, they alerted our
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detectives. They said, hey,we've reported some animal abuse to our corporate
office. Did you hear anything aboutthis? It was never reported to our
police officers, so this was newsto us. We take these allegations seriously.
They were saying she was rough withcats dogs. Another witness said that
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they were breeding French bulldog puppies tosell for several thousand dollars and one unfortunately
passed way and was not handled properly. You know, just swearing at these
animals and beating them while they're supposedto be getting quality care and you know,
being groomed and cleaned. It's it'sjust shocking to hear some of these
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instances. And then I will tellyou, I've seen the video that our
detectives recovered and it's it leaves youfeeling sick. How and you mentioned video.
How were the detectives able to substantiatethe allegations that led to these charges?
Sure? So enough, of thesewitness accounts, our detectives, you
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know, right up with the searchwarrant, bring it to the judge,
and some of the employees did mentionthat there is a surveillance video camera in
the back of the salon where thegrooming takes place and where this abuse took
place. That's enough for our detectivesto go and obtain the video that they
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signed the search warrant for the groomingsalon and then collected the digital video recorder.
It had about seventeen days of businessoperations saved. And in that seventeen
days of video, we were ableto point out five instances of animal abuse
and animal cruelty, a couple ofinstances where other employees intervened just because they
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saw the way that Stevens was treatingthese helpless animals. Did any of the
allegations that are covered criminally a resultin any serious injury or death for any
of these pets. It's aggravated animalabuse and animal cruelty. The aggravated animal
abuse is a felony in Florida.Yeah, there is a misdemeanor. She
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could face five years for the eachfelony charge, about a year for the
misdemeanor charges. We have not beenable to touch base with the owners of
these dogs and cats because we justobtained it on the video. That's why
we're really encouraging people and patrons toreach out to our detective. The dogs
are visibly and they're fearful, andthey're clearly in distress. Stevens becomes frustrated.
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If the animals have an accident whilethey're being groomed, then she has
to start over, and that seemsto be oftentimes with triggers these violent outbursts.
Well, if you are an ownerand you took your pet to this
groomer and you noticed anything, eitherphysical manifestations or maybe the pet behaving differently
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after a visit to this particular groomer, what should you do? Do you
have an ongoing investigation here? Yes, this is an ongoing investigation. I
mean, your pets are your family. You entrust someone to care for your
animals. In this case, itwas the groomer. If you think that
your furry friend might have been victim, please reach out to our detective.
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Her name's Detective Jessica Sullivan. Heremail is Jessica dot Sullivan at Sarasota,
FL dot CoV She will look intoany tip. Any there's no information that's
to minuscule here. Everything helps sothat we can make sure that we bring
all the charges and evidence forward inthis case. You can also report anonymously
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as always via crime Stoppers there arenumber is nine four one three sixty six
tips or online at Sarasota crimestoppers dotcom. But again, we just are
encouraging anybody with information about this becausewe have no idea how long this abuse
has been occurring, and we wantto make sure that justice is served in
this case, and we'll continue tofollow developments with this. Cynthia McLoughlin with
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the Sarasota Police Department, thank youvery much for joining us on Beyond the
News. You're welcome