Poker Pro Bart Hanson Details Dog Training Scam Leading To Pet’s DeathWoman Allegedly Used Funds For Poker And Other Casino Gambling |
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Poker pro Bart Hanson was dealt a nightmare over the last month, and recently shared the strange and terrifying tale involving a woman who is alleged to have neglected his dog, which ultimately died.
Hanson and his wife obtained the French bulldog, named Charlie, while living in Austin, Texas, a few years ago before moving to the Boston area in the town of North Reading. The family decided to get the dog some training.
According to Hanson, he hired a woman named “Lily” through the app Thumbtack for $1,500. She would board the dog in Connecticut and return it a couple weeks later. The couple received some daily text updates about the dog’s progress as well as some photos. Nothing raised alarms, but when the date came to return the dog “Lily” informed him that the dog was gone.
“My wife tried to get some information and it was very, very vague on the details,” Hanson said on his YouTube channel. “She just kept saying she doesn’t know how it happened. She was broken down on the side of the road, it was dark … and she doesn’t know if Charlie might have jumped out the window because her windows were down in her Tesla.”
Murky Details
After that, Hanson continued trying to contact “Lily” after returning from a business trip to Los Angeles. The story just didn’t seem to add up and the trainer had gone incommunicado. Hanson then contacted police, and told them there may have been a scam to steal his pet since French bulldogs are pricey breeds.
Lily later called him and went into a rambling story about her car breaking down in Royalston, Massachusetts, and her insurance company, Hanson said. She couldn’t give an exact location of the breakdown or what actually happened. He asked her to contact the North Reading police officer he spoke with earlier.
Police later told Hanson she did call but was vague about the situation. Law enforcement began investigating and later discovered that her real name was Josephine Ragland.
Hanson and his wife headed to the general area in Royalston to search for the dog and also contacted the local animal control, police, and state police. He also contacted towing companies and could find no records of a Tesla being towed.
Scam Uncovered
After some research, Hanson discovered Ragland had a history of accepting dogs for training and not returning them. He began to have a bad feeling about the entire scenario.
“I’m hyper diligent against scams,” Hanson said. “I just thought it was just some crazy woman who was making up a story about losing the dog.”
After contacting law enforcement again with everything he’d learned about Ragland, police questioned her and Ragland admitted she’d spent most of her time at a casino and that the dog collapsed while she was gambling. They later found Charlie’s dead, emaciated body in woods near her parents’ Connecticut home.
A necropsy determined the dog probably died of heat stroke and had lost 25% of his body weight in five days. Police also found four other dogs at Ragland’s home still alive and returned them to their owners. They believe she neglected the dogs with no intention to train them at all.
Ragland used the funds from her faux training business to play poker cash games and craps at Mohegan Sun casino, according to authorities. That was a bit of an irony to Hanson, who is a poker coach, commentator, and pro himself.
“She was on a bender at the casino, at Mohegan Sun,” Hanson said. “As a sick, twisted coincidence to this entire story, I am a professional poker player and am somewhat known in the gambling industry. She said that she played poker cash games for profit, and craps. I giggle at that, because anybody that knows gambling knows you can’t play craps for profit. But poker cash games? I teach people how to play cash games. She was going to the casino before and after work, because she was on this bender, and not taking care of these dogs.”
The suspect now faces felony larceny and obstruction of justice, according to CBS News Boston. Possible charges may also be coming in a California case as well. Hanson praised police and animal control for their efforts.
“Law enforcement really were unbelievable in this case, doing really good work,” he said.
While Charlie may be gone, Hanson is happy the entire ordeal is over and that Ragland at least may not be able to take advantage of anyone else or mistreat any more dogs. He’s already had others come forward and is hoping more victims will speak out.
“As I told my wife, I now look at Charlie as a hero,” he said, “and I really hope his death is not in vain.”
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