PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh woman who stole her cancer-stricken neighbor's dog and paid to have it euthanized will spend three to six months in jail.
An Allegheny County jury sentenced 58-year-old Gisele Paris on Friday. She was convicted in December of theft, receiving stolen property and cruelty to animals.
Prosecutors say Paris stole a Siberian husky named Thor from the neighbor's yard on Thanksgiving 2013 because she believed it was being neglected despite assurances to the contrary from a humane officer.
The dog's owner has stage 3 esophageal cancer. He says Thor had health problems but wasn't suffering.
Police say Paris paid a veterinarian to euthanize the dog last February to "destroy the evidence" of her crimes.
Defense attorney Robert Mielnicki argued that his client may have been misguided but wasn't malicious.
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