3 Charged With Selling Pets to Medical Labs

Three San Fernando Valley residents, described by City Atty. James K. Hahn as “cold-hearted,” were charged Thursday with duping pet owners into giving away dogs and cats that were then sold for as much as $500 to medical laboratories, where most died in experiments.

“Those animals were sentenced to death,” said Hahn as he filed 73 misdemeanor theft and conspiracy charges against Barbara Ann Ruggiero, 25, and Frederick John Spero, 43, both of Sylmar, and Ralf Jacobsen, 25, of Chatsworth.

Ruggiero owned two now-defunct Sun Valley kennels, Comfy Kennel and Budget Boarding, and along with Spero operated Biosphere, a company that was licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell animals to research facilities.

Ruggiero and Spero allegedly paid Jacobsen to obtain animals for free, then sold them to three Southern California laboratories for prices ranging up to $100 for a cat and from $250 to $500 for dogs.

Jacobsen allegedly got the animals by responding to classified advertisements offering free pets to good homes. He would tell the pet owners that he would take the animals to a ranch where they could play with children and horses, according to the complaint.

“I never heard of such a heartless scheme before,” Hahn said.

The complaint states that nine pet owners, most from the San Fernando Valley, were duped into giving away 14 dogs and cats between last October and January.

“All but three of the 14 animals listed in the complaint died in medical research,” Hahn said. The surviving animals were reunited with their owners.

Ruggiero, Spero and Jacobsen, who have not been arrested, are scheduled for arraignment Sept. 22 in San Fernando Municipal Court. Ruggiero’s attorney, Hugh H. Siegman, said Ruggiero probably would plead not guilty to the charges, but refused further comment. Spero and Jacobsen could not be reached for comment.

Biosphere sold 78 animals to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Loma Linda University and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sepulveda, said Deputy City Atty. Norman T. Wegener. The investigation was aided by several pet owners and Last Chance for Animals, an animal rights group based in North Hollywood, a city official said.