Stratford Woman Charged for Fabricating Lost Dog Story

A Stratford woman who allegedly misled her husband to believe their family dog was stolen -- rather than given away for free via a Craiglist ad -- was reportedly charged by Derby police Monday.

The Valley Independent Sentinel reports that Carolyn Novotny, 65, surrendered to police and was charged with one count each of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and second-degree interfering with an officer, both misdemeanors.

Bella, the 7-year-old yellow lab, was initially reported stolen from a Home Depot parking lot in Derby March 11. An aggressive campaign to find Bella ensued. It included the creation of a Facebook page called Bring Bella Home, where the lab's photo was shared with thousands of users.

And in the end, the family would credit Facebook for Bella's safe return on March 28.

"A family in Hartford found her on the side of the road soon after she went missing and took her in," a post on the Facebook page read at the time (the page no longer exists).

But a week later a woman emailed Stratford Patch claiming the whole story to be a sham.

"This whole story was fabricated," Janice Souza wrote. "We are the family who recieved Bella from a Craigslist ad posted by Novotny. We have proof, phone calls, emails, etc ... As of yesterday Novotny has confessed to Derby police."

The same day Patch received the email, William Novotny told the Valley Indy, "My wife had given her away, unbeknownst to me."

The paper reported at the time:

Novotny said his family had recently moved to a condo from a single-family home. His wife has some health problems and felt the family could no longer properly care for Bella.

Novotny said his wife knew he would oppose giving the animal away -- so she secretly placed an ad on Craigslist and offered the dog for free.

She then concocted the Home Depot story as a cover, he said.

Once he found out, he contacted the family who had Bella and said he gave them $750 for the dog's return.

"Frankly, this has been a nightmare for me," Novotny told the paper.