Woman nearly lost dog to adoption after deputy falsely said it was a stray, lawsuit claims

Dallas County law enforcement officers didn't just wrongly arrest and mistreat Lisa Cretsinger in 2021, she alleges. They also tried to steal her dog.

Cretsinger, 60, alleged in a 2023 lawsuit that De Soto police officer arrested her after a traffic stop even though sobriety and breath tests showed no alcohol in her system. She also accused the officer, who she said lacked the legal credentials to be a sworn peace officer, of unnecessary force and threats, and said he kept her for more than an hour in a city shed, making her fear for her life, before transporting her to jail.

All charges except a traffic ticket were later dismissed.

But Cretsinger also brought claims against Dallas County for the actions of a deputy sheriff who assisted at the scene, and last month, federal Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger allowed some of those claims to move forward.

Ebinger found the allegation that Deputy Aaron Sanchez took Cretsinger's dog from the traffic stop and falsely told an animal shelter it was a stray, nearly resulting in the dog's adoption, could amount to an unlawful seizure or civil theft, and called Sanchez's reported conduct "egregious."

Attorneys for Cretsinger and Dallas County did not respond to messages seeking comment.

More: No qualified immunity for Des Moines police officers sued in 2018 traffic stop, judge rules

Woman says dog put up for adoption after arrest

According to court filings, Sanchez arrived at the scene to assist DeSoto Officer Brandon Carter. As Carter arrested her, Cretsinger asked what would happen to her car and her dog, a 10-pound Havanese named Norman. She said she was told her car would be towed and that Sanchez would take the dog.

Sanchez turned Norman over to a nearby animal shelter, Cretsinger said, allegedly telling the staff the dog had been found wandering loose on the highway and that the owner was unknown. Although Cretsinger said Norman was wearing a collar with vaccination tags before her arrest, he reportedly arrived at the shelter with neither.

Believing Norman to be a stray, the shelter posted a picture on social media and stated he was available for adoption. After her release from jail, Cretsinger saw the post and was able to reclaim her dog, but said the shelter staff told her they'd received several inquiries and that Norman would have been placed with new owners soon had she not found him first.

Judge: Conduct alleged would be 'egregious'

In court filings, the county argued Sanchez acted properly and that Cretsinger suffered no harm as a result, and sought to dismiss all claims against it and the deputy.

Ebinger dismissed claims accusing Sanchez of wrongdoing related to Cretsigner's arrest. But she did not dismiss the claims related to Norman.

Previously: Judge finds Newton officers lacked cause for controversial 2022 OWI arrest; city appeals

Not only did Sanchez allegedly lie to shelter staff, Ebinger wrote, but did so after refusing Cretsinger's offer to have a family member pick the dog up instead, and may have removed his collar to make him harder to identify.

"Cretsinger’s allegations that Deputy Sanchez falsely represented that the dog’s owner was unknown and that the dog was found wandering along the highway, along with the inference that Norman’s collar and tag were removed prior to being received by the animal shelter, are sufficient to demonstrate Deputy Sanchez’s actions were improper," she wrote.

As for the county's argument that Cretsinger recovered her dog and thus suffered no harm, Ebinger wrote that the time and expense of retrieving the dog, and the anguish of finding him missing, are sufficient to support a claim.

Case continues against county, city

Ebinger's ruling means Cretsinger can continue seeking to bring her dog-related clase against Sanchez and Dallas County to trial.

Cretsinger's claims against De Soto and Carter, who no longer works for the department, also remain active, according to court filings. The case is scheduled to go to trial in August 2025.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa sheriff's deputy accused of lying to get woman's dog adopted