- Connecticut, USA -
The Connecticut State Police announced the arrest of 28-year-old JOSEPHINE MARIE RAGLAND (pictured).
On September 16, 2024, RAGLAND turned herself into the Middletown Police Department on the strength of an active arrest warrant held by Connecticut State Police on four counts of cruelty to animals.
RAGLAND’s arrest marks the second arrest in a case connected to the death of a 3-year-old French Bulldog named Charlie that happened on September 4, 2023.
RAGLAND’s mother, 64-year-old JACQUELINE WITT, was arrested on September 10, 2024.
According to the affidavit, RAGLAND, who went by “Lily”, had her business “Wagging Good” listed on a website as a facility for training and boarding dogs and would charge $1,000 to $2,500 to pick up the dogs and board/train them.
The affidavit stated that RAGLAND would go to pick up the dogs from their families’ homes, drive them to WITT’s residence in Haddam and leave them in crates.
According to the affidavit, when Charlie died, RAGLAND and WITT had a total of five dogs in their care. Charlie lost his precious life while under WITT’s supervision and after he had died, RAGLAND did not inform his family. Instead, she continued to send Charlie’s family updates on his training. RAGLAND put Charlie’s lifeless body “in a trash bag inside the sun room of the residence next to the other dogs she was caring for.”
Once Charlie’s body began to bloat, WITT took his body to Canterbury Turnpike in Norwichtown and dumped him ten to fifteen feet off the roadway.
Charlie was supposed to be returned to his family on September 15, 2024, but he never went back home. According to the affidavit, RAGLAND initially told Charlie’s guardian that Charlie had either got loose or was stolen from her while her vehicle was broken down that day. Charlie’s guardian, whom WFSB identified as Bart Hanson, contacted the North Reading Police Department to report that.
Reading Police assigned Detective Lieutenant Encarnacao to investigate the incident and he then reached out to Animal Control Officer DellaRocco of the CT Department of Agriculture Animal Unit who started the investigation.
When RAGLAND and WITT were questioned by ACO DellaRocco and Detective Lieutenant Encarnacao, they gave different versions of how Charlie died.
ACO DellaRocco picked up Charlie’s body from the road and put him in the freezer at the Clinton Dog Pound.
The other dogs who RAGLAND had picked up to train were returned to their families.
The affidavit blacked out the names of the dogs but described them as an 8-year-old American Eskimo Pomeranian mix, a 7-month-old Golden Retriever, a 7-year-old black Labrador, and an 8-year-old American Cocker Spaniel. One of them was in the worst condition and had a little to no fur on his legs, stomach and part of his tail and the areas without fur were scabby.
A necropsy performed on Charlie showed he was emaciated with “severe prominence of ribs, vertebrae and scapulae.” Part of Charlie’s skin had “multiple areas of pale and red discoloration.”
RAGLAND was released from custody on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear at Middletown Superior Court on September 30, 2024.
As for WITT, she was released on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned at Middletown Superior Court on September 19, 2024. She is facing four charges of animal cruelty to animals and one count of tampering with evidence.
Cassidy Williams, with I-Team Investigation said that the Massachusetts police reports say investigators got documents from California showing that RAGLAND ran a similar dog training scheme there before moving to Connecticut. RAGLAND left California after a dog disappeared and she is facing charges in California as well. The details of that case are currently sealed and RAGLAND’s lawyer did not respond to I-Team Investigation’s request for comment.
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Voice For Us Disclaimer: This story is sourced from official documents released by Connecticut State Police. Please note that details may be removed or new information added should updates become available.
In the case of charges being dropped, dismissed, or the case being purged, this article will be rectified accordingly, if official documentation is provided to Voice For Us.
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