Samantha Miller, who prosecutors said acted as the "boss" of the Woofin Palooza pet adoption agency under a fake name, was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison for defrauding hundreds of people by concealing that the animals had significant medical and behavioral problems.
A parade of people who adopted pets from the Portland agency described their anger with Miller for deceiving them, heaping additional costs on them and turning their lives into turmoil with dogs later diagnosed with distemper, cancer or other significant ailments. One woman said her adopted dog caused a "literal tornado in my house" because the dog was intent on attacking her two cats, broke through baby gates and bared his teeth at other dogs. Another said her adopted dog nearly mauled her 5-year-old granddaughter.
New pet owners were forced to get further veterinary care and training, they said. In some instances, they were forced to part with their new pets who were euthanized at significant expense.
"I thought I was getting a 2-year-old healthy dog and what I got was a bucket of lies," dog owner April Stone told U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez. Stone was previously a clerk for the judge; the judge said he could weigh her comments like any one else who appeared before him.
Several veterinarians and other pet adoption business owners spoke in support of Miller, urging the judge to consider the tens of thousands of animals that she saved from high-kill shelters.
Fred Wick, who served as chief executive officer from 2015 to 2019 of the unrelated Hannah the Pet Society that provides veterinarian care, said there were tens of thousands of people who obtained pets as a result of Miller.
"There isn't a single shelter in the United States that hasn't adopted out pets that turned out to be unhealthy" or a poor match with the new owner, he said.
Miller, 55, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and misbranding drugs by dispensing prescription animal drugs without a licensed veterinarian order.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Trisotto urged a sentence of three years and four months, citing the need to deter Miller's conduct. He also successfully convinced the court that Miller exerted control over her partner and was a leader of the conspiracy.
Defense lawyers Tara Herivel and Per C. Olson asked for a year and a half, countering that her co-defendant was the leader of the business. Miller also denied that she used any drugs to conceal animal illnesses or health problems, Olson said.
Trisotto said Miller used a fake name, "Mandy Myers," to hide her past after her real name had been tainted from a 2018 civil case and state investigation of her prior pet organization called All Terrier Rescue Hunters Crossing Inc.
She claimed she was Woofin Palooza's receptionist and scheduler, not the person in charge, customers said. She also created fraudulent medical documents for animals adopted and had an accomplice fabricate rabies vaccination certificates for the animals she put up for adoption, without knowing if the animals had received the vaccines, according to Trisotto.
Woofin Palooza obtained the animals from high-kill shelters for free and then put them up for adoption for a fee.
When one Oregon resident went to adopt a Great Pyrenees in May 202, the customer was told the dog had a mammary tumor that was benign and was given a bottle of Robitussin to treat its cough, according to prosecutors.
When the new owner took the dog to be spayed two months later, the veterinarian identified a mass on the animal, removed it and confirmed that it was cancerous.
When the Great Pyrenees' owner emailed Woofin Palooza, asking if a vet had previously examined the mass, Miller posing as "Myers" emailed back that the benign tumor diagnosis was correct. "I would not worry about it being anything but just that," she wrote.
By October 2020, the dog's cancer spread to its mammary glands and the dog died within a month.
Another Oregon resident adopted a border collie that Woofin Palooza claimed merely had a cough. Within a day, a veterinarian discovered the dog had a high temperature of 105 and needed to be rushed to an animal hospital. The border collie was placed in intensive care, diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and tested positive for distemper, according to prosecutors.
Because of the dog's medical condition, it was euthanized within six days of adoption.
Another new pet owner said she was "conned" into adopting an "anxiety-ridden dog with rotten teeth" -- hidden because Woofin Palooza had drugged the dog to hide its anxiety.
Another owner characterized Woofin Palooza's fraud as "cat-fish trickery," saying she adopted a dog that was advertised as young and healthy. Once she took the dog to a vet all but three of its teeth needed to be removed due to decay and infection, she said. The dog also had a tumor in its throat, a broken foot and was infested with worms.
Prosecutors said Miller used another veterinarian's license number to order prescription animal drugs through online pharmacies without the vet's knowledge and had the drugs shipped to Woofin Palooza. She stored the drugs with misleading labels, they said.
She also failed to get the animals the care they needed from a licensed veterinarian, they said, either ignoring their medical problems or attempting to treat the animals herself by administering prescription drugs without proper supervision.
Portland police searched Woofin Palooza with a warrant on Aug. 11, 2020, and seized about 85 different bottles, boxes, bags and packages of prescription drugs. Months later on Jan. 20, 2021,, the Federal Drug Administration executed its own search warrant and seized another 95 different bottles, injectables and packages of prescription animal drugs. They included sedatives, antibiotics, anti-seizure and anti-nausea medications, muscle relaxants and insecticides.
Miller used the income from Woofin Palooza's business account to pay her personal expenses, including her electricity, water and cellphone bills and grocery, pet food and gas expenses, according to Trisotto.
Hernandez sentenced her to three years and one month in federal prison. It will run concurrent to the remaining two months in custody that she still must serve from a pending state sentence. Once those two months are completed, she'll be transferred to federal prison.
The judge described videos that the government shared with him, depicting Miller dragging and striking some dogs, as horrific, but made it clear that the federal case dealt with her conspiracy to deceive prospective customers about the health of the animals up for adoption, and her state prosecution regarded animal abuse. A restitution hearing was set over until March.
Miller was sentenced in Multnomah County Circuit Court in May 2023 to five years' probation after pleading guilty to second-degree animal abuse and fourth-degree assault. She later was found to have violated her probation, which prohibited her from possessing any animals for 15 years. Less than a year later, on March 18, 2024, she was found with two cats and seven dogs at her home. She was sentenced to two years for violating probation in the state case.
Co-defendant Tori Lynn Head has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and dispensing prescription animal drugs without proper labeling and is set to be sentenced Feb. 28.