A dog trainer accused of boarding but never returning some animals sent to her for training now faces charges in California and Massachusetts. Hilda Gutierrez reports.
Josephine Ragland, accused of failing to return a dog to a Peninsula home, is now facing felony larceny charges in California and Massachusetts.
Police in North Reading, a town outside of Boston, are accusing the 28-year-old Ragland from Connecticut of executing a scheme, advertising through Thumbtack, and never intending to provide training services.
In January of this year, Scott, a pure-bred 7-year-old German Shepherd, went missing after spending two weeks with Ragland. When Ragland tried returning a different German Shepherd to owner Carolina Bruchilari, she filed a report with Palo Alto Police. Since then Ragland has been under investigation, but she was never arrested or charged at the time.
Police in Massachusetts are now saying that Ragland moved back to her parents’ home in Connecticut sometime this year and began advertising her dog training services as “Lily” and under the Thumbtack profile, ‘Wagging Good’.
Massachusetts resident, Bart Hanson, contacted our Investigative Unit saying he had hired ‘Lily’ to board and train his French Bulldog, Charlie, for two weeks. However, at the conclusion of the training, Charlie was not returned to its owners.
Hanson said they were told by the dog trainer that her car had broken down on the side of the road and that Charlie had disappeared from the backseat.
"I don't know what exactly happened. I don't know if he jumped out of the car or somebody took him, but he's gone", is what Hanson said the trainer texted.
It was Hanson’s search for Charlie that led him to our online news story and social media posts helped him identify his trainer as the same woman who was under investigation for Scott’s disappearance.
This time, Charlie's disappearance in Massachusetts sparked a multi-agency investigation.
According to the North Reading Police report, after thorough investigations — including the examination of Ragland's phone and visits to her parents' home in Connecticut — it was concluded that Charlie had died within a few days of being in her care.
His body had been disposed of near Ragland's residence. A necropsy revealed that Charlie was emaciated, with no food in his system, and likely died from heat stroke. Investigators also discovered four other malnourished dogs in crates at Ragland's home.
When North Reading police contacted the Palo Alto Police Department about their investigation, they say they learned that police in the Bay Area had interviewed 18 of Ragland’s clients and that described patterns of alleged abuse and neglect. The Investigative Unit spoke to at least 8 of those clients.
Ragland pleaded not guilty to two felonies in Massachusetts: larceny of over $1,200 by false pretense and misleading police. In California, nine months after the initial disappearance of Scott, the district attorney in Santa Clara County also charged Ragland with two felonies: theft of a dog and personal property of a value greater than nine hundred and fifty dollars.
Despite seemingly positive reviews on Thumbtack, Ragland's Bay Area profile on the platform was removed after the German Shepherd's disappearance, but she was able to advertise in the East Coast using a different name. In a statement, the company told us, they are actively investigating the situation and have cooperated with authorities.
Ragland has not responded to our many attempts to reach her and Scott’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
Ragland has been released on bail in the Massachusetts case, pending her trial. But a judge there ordered her to surrender her passport, stay away from animals other than her own, and refrain from making any social media posts about animals. Meanwhile, Palo Alto police have requested a warrant for her arrest.
