Man Who Answered Owner Ads Sought : More Pets Found in Research Labs

Two San Fernando Valley pet owners who had given up dogs for adoption recovered them Wednesday after they were discovered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which had purchased the animals for research.

Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation officials, meanwhile, identified a man they say acquired the two dogs and perhaps dozens of other dogs and cats under false pretenses before selling them to two Sun Valley kennels. The kennels later sold the animals to Cedars-Sinai and two other research facilities, officials said.

Lt. Robert Pena said the man is Ralf Jacobsen, a Valley resident who used at least three aliases when answering newspaper advertisements that offered free pets to good homes. Pet owners said the man used the names Mike Johnson, Steve Johnson or Steve Jacobs and often gave phony telephone numbers and addresses when he took animals.

Pena said authorities want to question Jacobsen, who could face criminal charges for obtaining animals by misleading their owners.

Pena added that animal-regulation officers want to talk to Barbara Ruggiero, owner of the kennels, about statements Wednesday by a Burbank resident who said he gave her a dog in October after she told him she wanted it as a pet.

The 130-pound, mixed-breed dog named Ox, given away by David MacCaughtry, was found this week at Ruggiero’s Budget Boarding kennel on Bradley Avenue, Pena said. MacCaughtry claimed the animal Wednesday at the East Valley Animal Shelter in North Hollywood.

Ruggiero could not be reached for comment. But Hugh Siegman, her attorney, said in an interview that Ruggiero was cooperating with authorities investigating the kennels. He confirmed that Ruggiero purchased animals from a man who may have misrepresented himself. But he said Ruggiero did not know how the man had obtained the animals.

“It is not as if my client is not an animal-lover herself,” Siegman said.

It is not known how many animals collected under false pretenses ended up in research labs, Pena said.

But authorities do know that Ruggiero has sold 78 animals to three Southern California research facilities since the U.S. Department of Agriculture licensed her in October to sell animals for research.

Of 31 dogs Ruggiero sold to Cedars-Sinai, six were still alive, Pena said. Two were claimed Wednesday by John Martin of Sherman Oaks and Michelle Zelman of Tarzana. Four unclaimed dogs remained at the East Valley shelter, Pena said.

Pena said Ruggiero sold 29 cats to the Veterans Administration hospital in Sepulveda. The hospital turned over eight of the cats to animal-regulation authorities Monday, Pena said. The other 21 died at the facility, he said.

Pena said 18 dogs Ruggiero sold to Loma Linda University also had died.

Martin and Zelman said they ran newspaper advertisements offering their dogs to good homes. They said the man who answered their ads portrayed himself as an animal-lover. “He was very convincing,” Martin said.

After recovering his pet, Martin said: “Evidently, this dog wasn’t mistreated or was next on the Dachau line.”

Zelman said her dog had lost weight and had developed cloudy eyeballs. “I’m surprised she was still alive,” Zelman said.

Animal-regulation officials began investigating Budget Boarding and Comfy Kennel, the other kennel owned by Ruggiero, following complaints by suspicious pet owners and Last Chance for Animals, a group of animal activists. The USDA also is investigating the kennels.