Dog News

Woman Accused of Impersonating Animal Control Claims It’s a Misunderstanding

by Fred

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Yesterday, Shannah Tenner plead no contest to the unlawful use of a badge in an attempt to steal a man’s dog.  Tenner learned of an alleged dog abuse incident in an apartment complex in Echo Park, California, and partnered with one Jenny Smiley to take Cesar Aguilar’s dog.  Smiley spoke fluent Spanish like Aguilar, and was supposed to say they were re-homing the dog, but now Tenner is saying that’s not what happened.

Tenner claims that what Smiley was supposed to say was they were going to take the dog away, and place the dog with a nice, loving family.  However, Tenner now says that Smiley was the first one to make claims of being with animal control, and that she was threatening to have Aguilar deported if he ever got another dog ever again.

“I went there with the intention of asking him to give up the pet and assuring him that we would re-home it to a wonderful, loving home, and that’s what I thought happened in Spanish,” said Tenner.

The two were being looked for by police for impersonating animal control officers.  They put out the word on social media outlets like Facebook, and it didn’t take very long at all for the public to catch the story and run with it.  Before too long, both Smiley and Tenner were arrested and charged.  Tenner still claims that she had nothing but good intentions.

However, as they are known to do when citizens take the law into their own hands, the judge in the case said that they still broke the law no matter what the intent was.  They should have reported the abuse before taking any further steps against Aguilar, and they most definitely should not have held themselves out to be law enforcement officials.

Both faced fines, and more than 120 hours of community service.