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HomenewsA Theft Charge Against Santos in Pennsylvania Was Dismissed in 2018.

A Theft Charge Against Santos in Pennsylvania Was Dismissed in 2018.

A lawyer who represented U.S. Rep. George Santos said he was charged with criminal theft in Pennsylvania in 2017 for writing fraudulent checks to acquire puppies from dog breeders.

The attorney, Tiffany Bogosian, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the case was dismissed after Santos stated the nine checks, totaling more than $15,000, were from a stolen checkbook.

The larceny case, originally reported by Politico, adds to the turmoil surrounding the first-term Long Island congressman, who faces various probes and has admitted to lying about his biography.

Read more: Compared to Other States, New Jersey’s Snap Benefit Increase is Particularly Dramatic.

A representative for Pennsylvania’s York County district attorney’s office, where the charges were brought, said the office cannot comment on erased cases. Pennsylvania state police did not respond to messages.

Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, didn’t respond to a message. Santos denied wrongdoing.

Santos led Friends of Pets United, a group that helped sick, abandoned, and mistreated animals.

Some connected with the organization have wondered what happened to the funds. A New Jersey man told FBI officials that Santos raised $3,000 for his terminally ill dog but never gave him the money or assisted him.

It’s not Santos’ first check-related criminal probe. The New York Times stated that Santos was charged in Brazil for using two stolen cheques to buy $1,350 worth of clothes at a Niteroi clothing store in 2008.

Because Santos never appeared in court, local authorities told the Times the case was dormant. Santos denies being wanted in South America.

After Santos told her he was extradited, Bogosian began aiding him with the Pennsylvania theft case in 2020. She shared the AP February 2020 emails with a Pennsylvania state trooper.

Read more: New Jersey is Cracking Down on Cashless Businesses and Secret Costs.

In her email to the trooper, Santos told her that one of four checkbooks he received from his bank disappeared in 2017 and he promptly called the bank, had the checks canceled, and filed stop payment orders on all the cheques. He closed the account.

Bogosian wrote in the email that Santos didn’t know about the dog breeders’ checks until he was charged. She wrote that the checks’ signatures differed from each other and from Santos’.

“A review of the below and attached will make evident my client is not only the victim of fraud but so are the additional payees indicated below and who got the attached cheques,” Bogosian said in the email.

She added that Santos believed his roommate at the end of 2017, “a person only known as ‘Sydney Lima,'” had access to the checks and was responsible.

Expunged charges are unclear.

Some bad checks to dog breeders indicated “puppies” were purchased.

After writing the checks, Friends of Pets United hosted a puppy adoption event at an NYC pet store where customers paid hundreds of dollars for the puppies.

Santos urged the pet store owner to write a check to Anthony Devolder, the name he used at the time, during the adoption event in November 2017, the New York Times said Monday.

Read more: A Missing Man From Washington Has Been Located Dead Next to the Highway.

The owner refused and made the check out to Friends of Pets United. According to the Times, Daniel Avissato found in his bank records that someone had erased Friends of Pets United from the check’s beneficiary line and replaced it with Anthony Devolder.

“My work in animal advocacy was the labor of love & hard effort,” Santos tweeted in response to fundraising charges.

He saved several dogs.

Sapna Pal
Sapna Palhttp://newjerseylocalnews.com
Hello viewers, my self sapna. I am working as a content writer from last 5 years. In https://newjerseylocalnews.com/ where i uptated fresh news of new jersey and some other area and provience of united state of america. For daily news of newjersey just visit my website https://newjerseylocalnews.com/
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