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LOCAL WOMAN ACQUIITED ON DOG THEFT CHARGES

WOMAN ACQUITTED OF DOG THEFT CHARGES

      PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- A local woman labeled a dog thief back in August by local police has been acquitted of any wrongdoing by a district court judge. “This case could only be described as blatantly outrageous,” said Alice Giordano,  “I was essentially arrested for rescuing a dog.”

      Giordano had the dog in her possession for about 7  months when police took him from Giordano and gave him to Natasha Curtis, who claimed the dog belonged to her. Curtis said she was in the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru line when she noticed one of the dogs a man was walking looked like her dog Mickey.  Giordano was summoned to the scene by the man  identified as Giordano’s husband who was walking the dog along with the family’s two dogs.      

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       Portsmouth police arrested Giordano and charged her  with receiving stolen goods and theft of stolen or mislaid property. District Court Judge Stephen Morrison said on Tuesday the prosecution did not prove either of the charges.  

        Giordano said police at the scene made comments that she must have stolen the dog because he was a purebred and worth lots of money.  In published news articles following Giordano’s arrest, police did comment that Giordano should have known the dog wasn’t lost because it was a purebred Boston Terrier.

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      However, on Tuesday another side of the story emerged.

       Witnesses testified about the efforts Giordano made to find the dog’s owner. Linda McLear, who lives next door to  the house where Natasha Curtis was renting at the time testified she was there the day Giordano removed the dog out of the busy stretch of roadway along Islington Street. McLear said she also saw her return to the property on another day.  Crystal McKenzie, an employee at nearby Hannaford Bros. said she was working at the local grocery store when Giordano came in seeking permission to hang a found poster of the dog. “She was running around frantic in a blizzard,” said McKenzie, “I think she went beyond what most people would have in a situation like that.” 

     Giordano also sought permission to hang a found poster in her business too, testified Angela Randolph owner of Wink Salon. Maria Read of Somerville, MA testified that at some point, Giordano asked her family if they would be interested in adopting Mickey.  Carol Chellman,  Giordano’s attorney, asked Read if Giordano sought money for Mickey. “On the contrary,” said Read, “Alice said she didn’t want any money for him, she just wanted  him to go to a good home.”

      Giordano testified that on the morning she found him,  she knocked on the door of Curtis’s house, left a note with her name and number, and repeatedly came back to the property over a course of days without finding a sign of anyone at the house.  She said the house looked like someone had moved out. “There were large bags of garbage and trash on the porch and around the property, “ she said, “and large piles of cigarette butts in the window sills.” Giordano said she concluded the dog had been abandoned.                    

     Giordano said the dog was in deplorable condition when she found him and learned very quickly he was not housebroken, but initially gave the owners the benefit of the doubt and searched for them. “I never saw one sign for him, never got a phone call, and never ran into anyone looking for him,” said Giordano.

      Curtis claimed she hung signs and reported Mickey missing to the SPCA.  She testified in court that he went missing in January and then later testified it could have been February.

     According to court records, Curtis was issued a citation by the city of Portsmouth for failing to license Mickey. The summons was issued in November 2012, a few months prior to the time Giordano found him. Curtis also has a criminal record that includes assault, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief.

     During the time she had Mickey, Giordano had the dog neutered, examined by a veterinarian, and vaccinated against rabies.  Curtis testified she was upset the dog was returned to her “without his testicles” because she wanted to continue to breed him.  Mickey was 9 years old at the time Giordano found it.  Curtis told police Mickey was an AKC-registered Boston Terrier. However, in court, Curtis was unable to produce any AKC papers for the dog.

      Vicki Kennedy, a national champion of Boston Terriers, said a 9-year old Boston Terrier even with pedigree papers isn’t worth very much. “At this age, we are pretty much giving them away,” said Kennedy, “and that’s if they’ve already been neutered or spayed.”

     Curtis said Mickey was dirty and malnourished when she got him back and that Giordano had gouged him in three different places in attempts to retrieve him back from her.  However, Chellman produced a news clip that ran just days after Giordano’s arrest showing closeups of Mickey with no visible signs of any gouges or malnourishment.

     Portsmouth Police Officer David Colby also testified that Mickey was “filthy” when they arrested Giordano.

     Colby testified he knew Giordano from prior contacts with her. Giordano is a former reporter for The Boston Globe. Prior to working for the paper, she served as the Portsmouth Police reporter for The Portsmouth Herald. Giordano also covered crime and politics for the Associated Press.  

     Giordano criticized her former employee the Portsmouth Herald for running blatantly bias pieces. “They ran my mug shot more times than a local woman who killed two cyclists and a man who broke into a Portsmouth home and beat two people as well as the family dog,” said Giordano. "You have to ask yourself why?”

    The Herald article was picked up by other media outlets in New England and nationally and was posted on a variety of online websites.

      At the scene, Giordano asked police to  put Mickey in the care of a third, neutral party until ownership of the dog could be rightfully determined.  Police decided to give the dog to Curtis after she was able to supply them with an identification number that matched a microchip on Mickey’s body.  Giordano called the microchip “a moot point” since she already knew his last known address. 

     Curtis testified that the family originally purchased the dog for one of their sons. “We bought him to help him cope with ADHD,” she said.  ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, defined as a psychiatric disorder of not being able to focus, being overactive or not being able to control behavior.

     Giordano says she wonders where Mickey is today and if he’s okay. “It was heartbreaking for my family to not even have a chance to say goodbye to him.”  

 


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