Animal Control Shelter Shut Down After Reimbursement Scheme

Communities across Allegheny County are without animal control services after officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture shut down Triangle Pet Control Services in McKees Rocks Borough on Monday.

According to a KDKA report, the kennel was forced to close because it allegedly defrauded the state by getting paid for services that it didn't perform.

Pennsylvania State police have charged the kennel's owner, Kennedy resident Berard Dudash, with theft and tampering with public records, claiming that he overcharged the state by more than $37,000 for housing and destroying stray dogs at Triangle Pet Control.

Specifically, Dudash faces allegations that he falsely reported the number of dogs that Triangle Pet handled between July 2007 and April 2011 and obtained $37,384 in reimbursement for dogs that did not exist. State police said that Dudash was aware of the overbilling during that period.

Triangle Pet's services are contracted by a number of Pittsburgh-area municipalties. Triangle billed those municipalities for every dog that it handled and euthanized. Those municipalities, in turn, sought and obtained $30 per dog in reimbursement from the Department of Agriculture, according to state police.