An Illinois college professor’s story about finding an abandoned puppy inside a duct-taped pillowcase was a tall tale, according to police who charged the woman with filing a false report.
Hope Sanchez, an adjunct psychology professor at McHenry County College, was booked on a felonious disorderly conduct charge after she turned herself in to Woodstock detectives Friday, the Northwest Herald reported.
Police said the 38-year-old instructor told students during a class that she found the abandoned puppy in a taped pillowcase dumped on the side of a road, the Chicago Tribune reported. One of the students told an animal shelter, which contacted police.
They investigated and determined that the weeks-old boxer or boxer mix had actually been given to Sanchez and that she was seeking a new home for the animal, the paper reported.
“It was her living arrangements – she has a partner that doesn't want any part of a dog, so she couldn't keep it,” Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen told the Tribune. “Why she chose to concoct a story, I don't know.”
The college was initiating college personnel procedures, a spokeswoman told the paper Friday.
Sanchez, of Fox River Grove, was released after posting a $1,000 bond, the Herald reported.
The puppy has been put up for adoption at Hoof, Woof and Meow Animal Rescue in Gilberts.