State police have accused an Oxford Animal Control Officer of forging documents to receive free veterinary care for two dogs she was keeping at her home.
Cori Wlasuk, 44, of Southbury, is due at Superior Court in Derby May 5 to face charges of five counts of second-degree forgery and two counts of third-degree larceny.
An email seeking comment was sent to Wlasuk.
In a prepared statement, state police said they began an investigation last December after Oxford First Selectman George Temple told a state trooper a resident had complained that Wlasuk had “stolen” two of her dogs.
The resident was Vickie Tkacz, who owns four dogs that attacked and killed another dog in Oxford’s Jackson Cove Park in July 2011.
Police lodged charges against Tkacz for which she was granted a special form of probation. She also paid a fine after pleading guilty to two counts of allowing a dog to roam.
According to state police, Temple told police in December 2015 that Tkacz had complained that Wlasuk took two of her dogs in 2011 and 2014. The press release does not go into the details of the investigation.
Tkacz’s complaint prompted a probe that determined Wlasuk had taken in a pure breed Newfoundland puppy at the town’s animal shelter, state police said. But she did not impound the animal at the shelter as required by law, instead taking the animal home.
“Wlasuk then used a friend’s name to adopt the puppy and used the same friend’s name on a State of Connecticut Sterilization Voucher to spay the puppy which the State of Connecticut paid for and kept the puppy listed as residing at the shelter so that the Town of Oxford would pay the puppy’s veterinarian bills,” a criminal information summary written by Trooper Vicki Donohoe said.
In April 2014, state police said Wlasuk again took a Newfoundland turned in to the shelter home instead of impounding it.
She paid the owner cash for the dog, state police said, and then had the owner sign a surrender form that “incorrectly” turned the dog over to the town “when in fact, Wlasuk had the canine at her home.”
“Wlasuk again misused the State voucher system and the State of Connecticut paid to spay her dog and the Town of Oxford paid the canine’s vet bills,” Donohoe wrote.
“Wlasuk was forging State documents and State reports in order to receive free veterinarian care for her canines,” the report goes on.
State police said Wlasuk had received three past written warnings — for failure to investigate a dog bit, for importing dogs without health certificates, and for falsifying a state document.
In addition, an investigation was pending for two counts of failure to quarantine a biting dog, failure to fill out a dog bite report, and placing a biting dog.
Wlasuk surrendered to police Sunday about 10:15 a.m. after they had obtained arrest warrants in the case. She was released a half-hour later after posting a $5,000 bond.
