Scam led to dog’s death, Hartford woman claims

By Bryant Reed, Marcy Jones and Rob Polansky

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    HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — A woman from Hartford said a cruel scam led to her dog’s death.

In an exclusive interview with Channel 3, Melissa Sanchez detailed everything she went through over the past several months.

Sanchez said her dog had to be euthanized after allegedly having a botched c-section surgery by people who were not veterinarians.

Genese Martinez, 43, of Manchester, was charged with cruelty to animals in the case, according to her arrest warrant.

“When I met her, [Martinez] was introduced as a retired veterinarian and was told she did all types of services on dogs,” Sanchez said.

Martinez offered to perform the emergency surgery, allegedly helped with the procedure, and sent pictures during the procedure, according to Sanchez.

Sanchez and Martinez first came to know each other when Sanchez wanted her old English bulldog, Sky, to have puppies.

Martinez charged Sanchez $600, Sanchez explained. That was much cheaper than the $2,000 to $4,000 procedure at a veterinary hospital.

“She had told me my dog needed a c-section or I was gonna lose her and my dogs,” Martinez said. “The price difference sounded good. I’m thinking she was legit. I thought about everything. Nothing seemed off with her.”

According to state police, the surgery was performed on a kitchen table in an unsterile environment while people smoked marijuana.

After the puppies were delivered, Sanchez said everything went wrong.

She said her dog became very sick from an infection.

“[Martinez] was supposed to come see me the day before I brought my dog, but she didn’t show up,” Sanchez said. “So I ended up contacting the emergency vet because I didn’t know what to do.”

She said the vet started to question her, and that was when she got a text from Martinez that said not to show the pictures.

“Right there from that text alone, I know something was wrong. I never thought anything was wrong with that lady the whole time until that text right there,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said that if she had do it all over again, she would take Sky straight to a vet, no matter the cost.

She said she felt scammed.

Martinez was later arrested but only on the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.

However, Sanchez said she felt like that was not enough.

“I need justice for my dog. She just can’t do that. She can’t just take someone’s family member and move on and get away with it. It has to stop somewhere,” Sanchez said.

The five puppies were ok from the pregnancy. She said Thursday that they were 7 months old.

In the warrant, police said Martinez was uncooperative in giving them any more information about where she took the dog or the location of others who helped her perform the surgery.

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