Attorney: Personal pets seized in alleged dog-running scheme

STAMFORD — Two defendants are claiming their personal pets were unfairly seized by city police as a part of an investigation into a Stamford dog-running operation, according to a motion filed by their attorney.

Devon Sherman, 25, and Nadayea Encarnacion, 23, claim in a motion to return seized property filed on April 30 that their personal pets — a French bulldog named Supreme and a dachshund named Bodie — were among the 22 puppies seized by police during a crackdown last month on a dog-running scheme being operated out of a Glenbrook home.

“Since the dogs were in good health and not held for sale, they are not evidence of any crime and should not be disposed of in any manner including by adoption or euthanasia,” attorney Phillip Russell, who represents the two, wrote in the motion.

Russell wrote in the motion that both defendants “cared” and “were current with veterinary visits” for the dogs. He asked the court in the motion to direct the Stamford Police Department to return the two dogs to their owners.

Sherman is one of is one of four people — Nygel Joseph, 23; Ebony Ayala, 23; and Paul Joseph, 23 — accused of using stolen identities to purchase puppies from around the country and sell them out of a Glenbrook home.

Sherman was charged with racketeering, first-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, nine counts of conspiracy to illegally use a payment card, animal neglect, trafficking in personal identifying information and importing a dog without a health certificate.

Encarnacion was arrested by police as they executed a search warrant on the Belltown Road in March.

Russell said Encarnacion, who is friends with Sherman, was just leaving the residence when police arrived and demanded that she identify herself. When Encarnacion told police she didn’t have an ID on her, according to Russell, police arrested her on charges of interfering with police and failure to carry an operator license.

Investigators were first alerted to the alleged dog-running scheme on Feb. 19 when an employee at Cornell University Veterinary Specialists in Stamford reported that a group of individuals had been bringing multiple dogs in and were using stolen credit cards to pay for the nearly $25,000 that they racked up in medical bills, investigators Michael Stempien and Vanessa Lynn wrote in Sherman’s arrest warrant affidavit.

The warrant states the suspects brought nine puppies to the vet in varying states of malnutrition and illness between October 2020 and March 2021.

During the ensuing investigation, police discovered a dead “young looking, black female toy poodle” in the garbage of the suspects’ Glenbrook home, according to the warrant. A later diagnostic exam revealed the dog had died of bronchopneumonia, the warrant said.

In one trip, vets needed to remove the right eye from a 7-month-old shiba inu because of trauma, according to the warrant. In another trip, they brought an 8-week-old French bulldog needed to be euthanized because it “arrived comatose and severely emaciated,” the warrant said.

The warrant said the suspects kept the operation afloat by “working together to steal account login credentials of DoorDash and Uber employees” and the siphoning off funds into separate accounts. The suspects also illegally purchased people’s identities online, the warrant states.

Using these stolen identities, the suspects would then obtain credit cards they used to purchase more dogs from breeders around the country — oftentimes leaving the breeders at a loss when the fraudulent purchases were denied, the warrant said.

Sherman is next scheduled to appear in court on June 14. Encarnacion is scheduled to appear on June 28.

Stamford police seized 22 puppies in an alleged dog-running operation. But two were personal pets, an attorney says.