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In Hartford County, officers from the Southington Police Department were called to a Whitlock Avenue home on Dec. 23, 2021, where there was a report of a suspicious woman and a barking dog.
On Monday, Jan. 31, police said the caller reported that when he went to check on his dog, he spotted a blonde woman dressed in all black walking along his fence line on the neighbor’s side of the property.
Southington Police Lt. Keith Egan said that the witness recognized the woman as a house sitter staying in a neighboring home on Whitlock Avenue, who he saw placing a small round item on a tree stump in a neighbor’s yard.
As he was walking back, the witness found a similar item on his back stairs, which he initially thought was a cream-filled chocolate candy. However, further investigation determined that there was a distinct smell coming from the candy, and inside was a hidden mothball.
Egan said that the woman, later identified as Southington resident Sandra Sullivan, age 57, initially denied knowledge about the incident, and permitted investigators to search her backyard, where they found a similar item.
According to police, at that point, Sullivan admitted the item was a cream-filled chocolate candy which she opened and hid a mothball inside in an effort to get her neighbor’s dog to stop barking.
“Sullivan expressed frustration over the neighbor’s dog barking at all hours and decided to make a ‘treat’ for the dog to see if he would ‘stop barking,” Egan said in his report. “She said her intent was not to hurt the dog, she just wanted the dog to stop barking excessively.”
The investigation into the incident led to a warrant being issued for Sullivan’s arrest. On Tuesday, Jan. 25, she turned herself in at Southington Police Headquarters, where she was charged with criminal attempt to commit cruelty to animals.
According to the VCA Animal Hospital, mothballs “contain a high concentration of insect repellent. Poisoning most commonly occurs when dogs ingest mothballs.
"As little as one mothball could poison a dog. The toxic dose depends on the size of your pet, the size of mothball, the type of mothball, and whether the mothball was ingested, or if the pet was only exposed to the fumes."
Sullivan was released on a $1,000 bond and scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Thursday, Feb. 10.
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