BRIDGEWATER – Police have charged Gail Benoit with fraud after a local woman reported she may have bought a stolen dog from Benoit.



Benoit was previously convicted of animal cruelty for selling sick puppies in a high-profile case in 2009.



Const. William Creamer of Bridgewater police said in an interview Monday evening that Benoit had been charged at 4:30 p.m. with fraud, identity fraud and theft under $5,000.



“Tracking her down was a bit difficult,” but Creamer said Benoit was located in the Shelburne area. She is to appear in Bridgewater provincial court on May 8, though a lawyer may appear on her behalf.



The complaint was laid with police at the end of January. Creamer said the case has taken time because police had to talk to a number of witnesses in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.



“A lot of people needed to be interviewed and we had to find out what their involvement was, their interaction with the dogs and any possible information they may have,” he said. “People were very co-operative.”



Cassie Craft of Saint John, N.B., told The Chronicle Herald in late January that she had entrusted a Nova Scotia woman she found on the Internet to look after her two boxers for a month or so while she juggled her studies and a full-time job. She became convinced that the woman, whom she knew as Ashley, had sold the dogs instead.



Craft and her father had driven the boxers, Bentley and his sister Diamond, to their temporary home in Waverley late last year.



But Craft said she grew worried after the woman stopped responding to her emails and phone calls to check on how her dogs were doing. When the phone was disconnected, she and her father drove back to the house but no one was there.



After seeing pictures of Benoit, Craft told police she thought that was the woman she knew as Ashley.



Bentley was located in the Truro area while Diamond was found at a home in Bridgewater. Craft was reunited with her dogs on Jan. 31 through Bible Hill RCMP and Bridgewater police.



Craft could not be reached for comment early Monday evening.



Benoit, 42, and her partner Dana Bailey, 50, were convicted of animal cruelty in 2009 for selling sick puppies. The Crown alleged the couple had sold as many as 30,000 dogs in the previous 13 years.



Benoit was also convicted of resisting arrest and assaulting an SPCA officer. It was her third conviction since 1994 for assaulting a peace officer.

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