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Fred....our hero
Undercover kitty helps nab bogus vet
By Anthony M. DeStefano
STAFF WRITER
February 9, 2006
Fred, the undercover cat, made his own collar!
The 8-month-old domestic shorthair was used by the Brooklyn district attorney's office to nab a man charged with being a fake veterinarian, officials said Wednesday.
Arrested and indicted on charges of posing as an licensed vet last Friday was Steven Vassall, 28, of Brooklyn. Vassall, who investigators said was a student at Kingsborough Community College, may have been doing medical procedures on animals for as long as seven years, said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
"The last thing a pet owner wants when a pet is sick is ... to learn the veterinarian is a fake," said Hynes at news conference.
Vassall was arrested after a Bedford-Stuyvesant man complained to Hynes' office about the treatment given to his Boston terrier, Burt. At a news conference Wednesday morning, the dog's owner, Raymond Reid, 40, said that Vassall, whom he used to care for Burt because he made house calls, operated on the animal for an abdominal blockage. He told Reid on the phone that the canine was going to die.
"I was devastated; I was crying," Reid told reporters.
After Vassall asked if Burt was to be euthanized, Reid said he demanded to see his pet. Vassall then drove the dog to Reid's home and Burt bounded out of the car, said Reid, not looking near death but still suffering from an open abdominal wound. Burt also wasn't fitted with a protective collar to keep animals from touching their wounds, so his nose was bloody from the incision, said Reid.
To catch Vassall in the act, investigators used Fred, who was being cared for by executive assistant district attorney Carol Moran as part of a foster care program run by the nonprofit New York Animal Care and Control agency. The AC&C found Fred on the street suffering from pneumonia in September.
With Fred posing as a cat that had to be neutered, detectives lured Vassall to a Brooklyn apartment. Vassall was taped telling a detective posing as Fred's owner that the cat would be neutered for $135 cash, said Hynes.
Once Vassall took the cash and stepped outside with Fred in a pet carrier, detectives moved in and made the arrest, said Hynes.
Vassall was arraigned Saturday for unauthorized use of a professional title, torturing and injuring animals, and other charges. He is free on $2,500 bail. Vassall's attorney couldn't be reached yesterday.
Fred, a placid animal who didn't seem bothered by all of the media attention, was sporting a detective badge on his collar -- the one around his neck.
He had a tough battle with pneumonia and other lung problems, said an agency spokeswoman, but is now recovered and the cat's meow of Hynes' office and Moran's home. Hynes said anyone questioning a veterinarian's credentials should visit the state education department Web site at www.op.nysed.gov or call 518-474-3817.
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Yeah, FRED!!!!
