Today at 12:43 • Modified today at 13:09
Dog lovers who fell in love with a cute Chihuahua puppy were disappointed a few years ago in Veldhoven. Soon after the purchase it turned out that they had been scammed, because the animals became sick, there was no passport, no vaccination and sometimes the puppy was not even a Chihuahua. A couple from Veldhoven, who sold the dogs, heard heavy community service demands in the court in Den Bosch on Monday.
In April 2023, the police raided a camp at De Wegerd in Veldhoven. Reports had been received from people who had bought a dog there, but felt ripped off.
And for that fraud, a man and a woman from Veldhoven were arrested, as well as four other family members who lived at the same camp. Three of them were given community service last year and one case was dismissed. On Monday, the couple stood trial as main suspects in the large-scale puppy trade.
The man and the woman turned out to be exes, but also a couple again. He was previously sentenced to eight years in prison for a series of robberies and her criminal record is not clean either. Together they had come up with a plan of action for this lawsuit and that was silence. They did not want to say anything about their trade in dogs and the judges and the public prosecutor found that strange. Because if you are accused of something like that, you still want to defend yourself, it seemed to the judges.
But no, and so the chairman of the court read out what the suspicions are according to the justice department: the working method was always the same between 2021 and 2023. The man placed advertisements under false names on Marktplaats for chihuahua puppies, which cost an average of more than 500 euros. If anyone was interested, they were sent to the woman’s home. And she also used all kinds of names.
Nine people reported fraud. They bought a dog from the woman, but soon discovered that it was wrong. Despite all the promises, the puppies were not vaccinated, not dewormed and often still much too young to leave their mother. They also had no passport and the story was always that it would be sent back, for example because it had been accidentally given to another buyer.
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Some dogs died, others often had to go to the vet. A family had to get rid of the dog because it became way too big. The animal turned out not to be a Chihuahua but a cross between two completely different dogs.
One woman didn’t trust it when she went to buy a dog. She contacted the police and when they came to the camp, a mother dog was brought in, which later turned out not to be the mother at all. In the meantime, a girl from the family had hidden the puppy in question under her coat when the police started investigating everywhere.
Justice accuses the couple of quite a few things: defrauding at least ten people and withholding proper care for the animals. There were also weapons, such as brass knuckles and a blackjack in a kitchen cupboard. The officer demanded a community service order of 160 for the woman, of which 40 hours were conditional. The man was required to perform 140 hours of community service, of which 20 hours were conditional. He also demanded that the two are not allowed to keep animals for five years, because they cannot handle animals responsibly. And that also applies to the two dogs that the woman now has.
In addition, the buyers of the dogs are demanding back the costs they have incurred. Together that is about 3000 euros.
The verdict in this case is on May 22.
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