Civil suit filed in ‘puppy mill’ case

Clark County

Discussion

December 1, 2009

Consumers allege they were sold diseased dogs

By MATT THACKER The News and Tribune Tue Dec 01, 2009, 10:15 PM EST

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a civil suit last week against two Harrison County women who were charged with tax evasion after their alleged “puppy mill” was shut down on June 2.

The attorney general’s office received complaints from at least four consumers who said the women sold diseased puppies that were misrepresented as being healthy, according to a press release.

The lawsuit alleges that Virginia Garwood, 64, and her daughter Kristen Garwood, 27, knowingly and intentionally violated Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by selling dogs that were supposedly healthy and had been de-wormed.

“When they assert to consumers the animals sold are healthy when in fact they are diseased, that’s a deceptive consumer sale,” Zoeller said. “The way this puppy mill allegedly operated was not fair to consumers, and it certainly was not fair to other retail merchants who play by the rules and collect sales tax.”

One woman claimed she purchased a Yorkshire Terrier for $350 from the Garwoods in August 2008, and the day after the purchase, a veterinarian discovered the puppy had a parasite. The puppy died within three weeks of acute liver failure.

Another consumer claimed his puppy had to be hospitalized with a stomach infection two days after he purchased it, while another woman claimed her newly purchased puppy tested positive for Giardia, an intestinal parasite, and had to be treated for two months.

One woman said her dog had severe gastrointestinal problems and she learned it had not been spayed as allegedly promised by the sellers.

The lawsuit, filed in Harrison County Circuit Court, seeks restitution for the victims and a permanent injunction from the Court to prevent the defendants from misrepresenting the condition or quality of animals they sell. The suit also seeks civil penalties.

The Garwoods were previously charged with six class D felony charges and two misdemeanors related to sales tax evasion. They are accused of selling hundreds of puppies without collecting Indiana sales tax or preserving tax records, reporting earnings or holding a retail merchant license.

The Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Revenue and Attorney General’s office seized records and raided the Harrison County farm, removing 244 dogs that officials said were being kept in “squalid” conditions. The dogs were taken to New Albany where they were quarantined, and the healthy dogs were distributed to shelters around the region for adoption.

The women reportedly had more than $132,000 in unpaid sales and income tax. The state is also trying to recoup the revenue it is owed as part of a separate case filed in Harrison County in June.

The Garwoods operate Breezy Valley Dairy Farm at 8605 Valley City Mauckport Road SW, in Mauckport. They are scheduled to go to trial on May 18 in Marion County Criminal Superior Court 24 on the criminal charges, but the civil cases may not be resolved at that time.