Gail Benoit gets 15 months probation for stealing dogs

Puppy broker Gail Benoit will serve 15 months probation for stealing and selling two dogs.

Benoit was in Bridgewater Provincial Court Monday to be sentenced for theft under $5,000.

Benoit told Judge Jim Burrill she was innocent, but accepted the verdict. “God knows the truth,” she said as she cried. 

Benoit, 44, is barred from buying or selling wild or domestic animals for the duration of her probation. She was also ordered to pay $300 to the woman who bought the dogs.

The ban is lifted after 15 months and she can resume buying and selling animals. 

Benoit lives with her daughter in Dartmouth, N.S. Her daughter can buy and sell animals, and can keep them in the shared home.

The crime began when Benoit responded to an online ad from a New Brunswick woman looking for someone to watch her two boxers. Benoit agreed to sit them, but sold them instead.