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Jul 16, 2008 7:44 am US/Central
South Texas Dognapping Case Ends In Plea Deal
Former Alice Mayor Pleads 'No Contest,' Gets Probation, Community Service
ALICE (AP) ―
A former small-town South Texas mayor has reached a plea deal in a case of a purloined pooch.
Grace Saenz-Lopez pleaded no contest Tuesday to filing a false police report, a Class B misdemeanor. Under terms of the deal, she'll pay a $300 fine and serve 48 hours of community service and two years of probation.
The charge was a byproduct of a custody dispute with Saenz-Lopez's neighbors over custody of the neighbors' dog.
Saenz-Lopez had claimed Puddles died last summer while she was pet-sitting for the neighbors. Three months later, however, a relative of the neighbors saw the dog, renamed Panchito, at a grooming business where the mayor had stashed him.
Saenz-Lopez insisted that Rudy Gutierrez and Shelly Cavazos had neglected the animal, but state District Judge Richard Terrell in McAllen ordered her in April to return the dog.
Saenz-Lopez had faced two felony counts of tampering with evidence and concealing evidence for hiding the dog with her sister and reporting it as missing. Her sister, Gracy Garcia, was indicted on a count of concealing evidence. Those charges were dropped under the plea deal.
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