The Palm Beach Post

Dog, cat that survived fire get new home with victim’s sister

- By Sarah Peters Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Authoritie­s have yet to release the name of a woman killed in a Palm Beach Gardens apartment fire Sunday, but the pets she left behind have a home waiting with her sister.

Palm Beach County Animal Care & Control employees said they’ll be handing over a 7-year-old cat and 5-year-old dog on Monday.

A neighbor’s dog is credited for alerting people to the blaze Sunday morning in The Fountains complex off North Military Trail.

The cause of the fire is under investigat­ion.

Firefighte­rs were dispatched

None of the packages had a tracking number, Price said, though each was the same size and shape and had similar handwritin­g. She delivered one to two packages for “Steve” from June through October, she said.

On Oct. 27 Price tried to deliver a package to an address in The Oaks. The community’s business office wouldn’t accept the package because the name listed on it was neither an owner nor a tenant at the listed address. The return address on the package was listed as a home in New York City, though the package was postmarked from California.

Price told authoritie­s she planned to deliver four packages to Steve that morning at the veterinary hospital, but he called off the meeting, saying something wasn’t right. He instructed her to deliver the four packages to the listed addresses.

Three were to addresses where no one would physically accept them, she said, but the fourth was stopped at The Oaks business office.

Authoritie­s said the four packages contained a com- bined 20 pounds of marijuana. Price has been out of jail on a $50,000 bond since April, when she was indicted on charges of bribery and distributi­on of marijuana.

As a part of the plea deal, the distributi­on of marijuana charge was dropped, court records indicate.

Price is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.

It was not immediatel­y known whether Price is still employed with the Postal Service. The Sun-Sentinel reports she lost her job in late October after admitting to bribery.

 ?? MELANIE BELL / THE PALM BEACH POST ?? Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue driver/engineer Dave Steele found the fire victim’s cat, Smitty, hiding in the house. “She is pretty dirty and smoky,” Steele said.
MELANIE BELL / THE PALM BEACH POST Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue driver/engineer Dave Steele found the fire victim’s cat, Smitty, hiding in the house. “She is pretty dirty and smoky,” Steele said.

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