Rhode Island: Accused animal abuser Rachel Duarte (Rachel Gouveia) was allowed to keep a cat that she claimed was her son's therapy pet. Now she's claiming a seized dog is also his therapy pet

RHODE ISLAND -- Back in January, East Providence Animal Control seized dozens of animals from Rachel Duarte (Rachel Gouveia)'s 26 Floyd Avenue home, including 22 cats and 20 dogs. There has been no mention of her husband Bryan Duarte being charged as well even though he was also living in the residence.

Conditions at the house were so poor that the house was condemned on the spot by a building inspector.

Al Quattrucci, the city’s building inspector, said Duarte tried to attack him and police when he told her he was condemning the house, but an officer “picked her up and dropped her like a missile into the snowbank.”

Duarte pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of animal cruelty and 365 counts of operating as a breeder and pet shop without a license, which is one count for each day of 2017.

Now she's taking her case online, posting on a Facebook group known for having a rule which says no one is allowed to find fault with anyone charged with animal cruelty. In their world, (alleged and convicted) animal abusers are all innocent (or fault-free due to being 'overwhelmed') and are being railroaded by corrupt officials and law enforcement.  In the court of public opinion, this is who Duarte is appealing her case to. That says a lot.

Also, in an earlier article it was said that Duarte was allowed to keep one cat that she claimed was her autistic son's therapy pet.  Well now she's claiming that a dog is his actual therapy pet and she's wanting people to give her money in an effort to get it back.  What about the cat? Was she lying to police when she claimed it was a 'certified therapy animal'?

Check out all the amazing things she claims to have trained the dog to do including guarding the teen when he has an 'episode'. That will not end well if a situation occurs where police respond because this 6'1" teen is in a rage about something and this dog turns vicious; it will end up shot and killed. Of course to worry about this scenario, I'd have to believe she really trained this dog to do all of these things- which I don't.

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Help Bring Luna Sevice Dog Home
Created March 29, 2018
Rachel Gouveia
Animals
GREENVILLE, RI

Meet Luna she is a Louisiana Catahula Leopard dog and she is very special. You see my 14 year old son is autistic and she is his service dog. I trained this dog to aide my child in going out into stressful public situations. Children with autism as many know are easily overwhelmed by the world around them.

Luna's tasks included physically blocking my son when he attempted to elope she acted as a living weighted support if he had an episodes she could block strangers from inadvertently stepping in meaning to help but making the anxiety much worst as well as her physical weight acting as a grounding weighted vest. She could sense his anxiety rising and would alert me and lean into him to provide support. She can help nudge him forward if he freezes and can not move dew to stress. She was ti start training in tracking as well to track his scent in the event he did elope so he could be quickly and safely found.

On January 12th our life was turned upside down our home raided with out a seizure warrent or search warrent. Our beloved pets ripped out of my husband and daughters arms. Many are still being held awaiting my trial. They are beloved pets with vet records that go all the way back to when they were babies. My own dog an adopted french bulldog is also there. They are the only 2 dogs we own both are spayed and up to date.

The loss of Luna has severely restricted my son being able to goto stores movies parks and such. I am trying to raise $3,500 to pay an additional lawyer to represent Luna and her friends so they may return home as soon as possible. My son needs his service dog back and he needs her back now!

  

 

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence
• Rhode Island: Teens, animals removed from ‘deplorable’ East Providence house; Rachel Duarte arrested
• Rhode Island: Social worker who visited hoarder home day before animals seized is now on paid leave
• Rhode Island: Rachel Duarte facing animal cruelty, illegal breeding charges
• Rhode Island: Rachel Duarte (Rachel Gouveia) pleads not guilty to running illegal pet shop

Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira, 40, Charged with Animal Cruelty for the 2nd time after dead and live animals found suffering inside filthy home

RHODE ISLAND -- A woman faces 17 charges of unnecessary animal cruelty after authorities removed 17 dogs from a building in Woonsocket, where police also found 16 live chickens, a dead pig, a dead chicken and a dead bird, according to the Woonsocket police.

Korina Ferreira, 40, of 68 Etna St., Fall River, was charged after the police went to a house at 36 Cottage Street for a report of an animal problem and found the 17 dogs, including eight 3-week-old puppies, in a second-floor apartment with feces covering the floor and an overwhelming smell of urine, according to a police statement. 

The building had no running water or electricity.

Conditions in the building were “uninhabitable to animals or humans,” said E.J. Finocchio, president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which sent two investigators to the property. Finocchio said one of those investigators told him “it was the worst situation he has faced in the eight years he’s been doing animal cruelty investigations, and we’ve seen some bad ones.”

The police were called to the address at about 7 p.m. by a neighbor who’d reporting seeing “a dog on the roof of the property,” according to a statement from Woonsocket Patrol Officer Steven A. Langevin.

“Upon arrival I observed what appeared to be a barking dog on a landing directly outside a window on the second floor of 36 Cottage St.,” Langevin wrote.

The neighbor told the police she thought the building had been abandoned because she hadn’t seen anyone there for more than a year, and Langevin wrote that police dispatch informed him that the address was on the city’s vacant building list. He also found a notice from National Grid on the first-floor front door informing the second-floor occupants that the electricity had been shut off.

Walking around the residence, Langevin saw two dogs poking their heads out a second-floor window. He also saw evidence that somebody had been living there.

“As I looked into the windows of the first floor, I observed what appeared to be feces and massive amounts of clutter within the apartment,” he wrote. “I could clearly hear the sounds of multiple dogs barking from the second floor apartment.”

When nobody inside the house answered their calls, the police decided to enter the building because of their concern for the welfare of the animals. As they were trying to get inside, Ferreira arrived. She told the police that she “sometimes” lived on the second floor. She said her mother owned the property.

Ferreira entered the building with police officers. When Ferreira moved a refrigerator that had been blocking the living room, “approximately 7 dogs came running out of the living room, stampeding towards Police,” Langevin wrote. “The dogs appeared to be extremely dirty and covered in filth, urine and fecal matter,” Langevin wrote.

“I observed one dog bite into a gallon of water as it drank from it frantically,” Langevin wrote.

Most of the dogs appeared to be “pit bull-type” dogs, according to Finocchio.

Some of the dogs ran into the backyard, according to Woonsocket Sgt. Sean A. Carpenter.

“The dogs immediately started looking for water and started drinking from pools of water from various pieces of trash in the yard,” Carpenter said. He said some of the dogs appeared skinny, they did not have any apparent injuries.

According to Carpenter, Ferreira told the police that she’d been keeping her animals in the house since summer until she could find new housing for themr. She told the police she brought water to them nightly.

The dogs were taken to three different shelters — North Smithfield, Woonsocket and Warwick — according to Finocchio.

Ferreira was arrested late Thursday night and arraigned in District Court, Providence, on Friday morning, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are all misdemeanors.

She was ordered held on $15,000 with surety and ordered to undergo pretrial services including mental health counseling. She is to have no contact with animals. It’s unclear whether she posted bonded.

REPEAT OFFENDER
Ferreira was sent to prison on previous animal cruelty charges. In that case, she was convicted of intentionally starving her American Bulldog named Pebbles.

What Pebbles looked like when seized

Pebbles, at a healthy weight

(Providence Journal - March 30, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira sentenced to 1-1/2 years in jail for intentionally starving her dog

Rhode Island: Rachel Duarte (Rachel Gouveia) pleads not guilty to running illegal pet shop

RHODE ISLAND -- A woman accused of illegally breeding and selling dogs out of her East Providence home faced a judge Wednesday.

Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), 40, of Riverside, pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of animal cruelty and 365 counts of operating as a breeder and pet shop without a license, which is one count for each day of 2017.

East Providence Animal Control last month seized dozens of animals from Duarte's Floyd Avenue home, including 22 cats and 20 dogs. Conditions at the house were so poor the house was condemned on the spot by a building inspector.

Of the 20 dogs, 17 were puppies. Some of those puppies were infected with parvovirus, which caused the East Providence Animal Shelter to go under quarantine. One of the puppies ending up dying of the disease.

Court documents reveal police were notified on Jan. 12 that a "suspicious looking white van" pulled up to the home and dropped off a load of puppies in filthy conditions.

Police said Duarte told them she had gotten the dogs - 17 puppies and 1 bulldog - off of Craigslist. Investigators said that wasn't the case.

According to police, Duarte rented the van and conspired with an unknown person to pick up the puppies in Arkansas. Court documents state the puppies were transported "inhumanely" in the van in "crates too small for all the puppies to freely move, while covered in feces."

Police said there were no health certificates for the dogs and determined Duarte had been running a breeding and pet shop operation from her home since as far back as 2014.

Duarte was released on $10,000 personal recognizance and ordered to have no pets at home, aside from a certified cat for her autistic son.

(WPRI 12 Eyewitness News - Feb 14, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence
• Rhode Island: Teens, animals removed from ‘deplorable’ East Providence house; Rachel Duarte arrested
• Rhode Island: Social worker who visited hoarder home day before animals seized is now on paid leave
• Rhode Island: Rachel Duarte facing animal cruelty, illegal breeding charges

Rhode Island: Rachel Duarte facing animal cruelty, illegal breeding charges

RHODE ISLAND -- The owner of an East Providence home where dozens of animals were rescued from squalid conditions in January is facing additional charges, according to Animal Control Supervisor William Muggle.

Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), 40, is facing 17 counts of unnecessary cruelty and 365 counts operating an unlicensed pet shop and breeder. Muggle said Animal Control was looking into illegal breeding and illegal selling at the home.

"It's a per-day count and we're charging for the previous year," he said.

East Providence Animal Control seized dozens of animals from the Floyd Avenue home, including 22 cats and 20 dogs. Conditions at the house were so poor the house was condemned on the spot by a building inspector.

Of the 20 dogs, 17 were puppies. Some of those puppies were infected with parvovirus, which caused the East Providence Animal Shelter to go under quarantine. One of the puppies ending up dying of the disease.

According to Muggle, the shelter is now full of healthy dogs and no longer under quarantine as of Monday.

"One of the toughest months in my career," Muggle said. "We're back to normal here."

The shelter is now taking applications for adoptions. Muggle said he wants those puppies adopted sooner rather than later since he does not want them to grow up in a shelter.

(WPRI - February 13, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence
• Rhode Island: Teens, animals removed from ‘deplorable’ East Providence house; Rachel Duarte arrested
• Rhode Island: Social worker who visited hoarder home day before animals seized is now on paid leave

Rhode Island: Social worker who visited hoarder home day before animals seized is now on paid leave

EAST PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- TAn employee of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) is now on administrative leave after having gone to a home on Floyd Avenue in East Providence the day before a building inspector condemned the house.

 

 

When city officials first investigated on Jan. 12, building inspector Al Quattrucci said the building had no smoke detectors and multiple other hazards, and two adults and two children were living inside.

Officers removed 20 dogs, 22 cats, a bearded dragon lizard, and a mouse from the house. Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), 40, is facing charges. She was arrested after allegedly attacking Quattrucci as well as a police officer.

DCYF Communications Director Kerri White confirmed Friday the employee was placed on leave Jan. 12; the employee's name is not being released. The department had been looking into the house prior to last Friday

"This case came to DCYF not as the result of a child abuse or neglect concern," White wrote in an email to Eyewitness News.

"A 17-year-old was living at the home as part of a private living arrangement between her legal guardian and the family who lives at the home. This was not a foster care placement. DCYF was in the process of assessing the appropriateness of this private arrangement and had not yet rendered a decision."

The department is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.

(WPRI - January 19, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence
• Rhode Island: Teens, animals removed from ‘deplorable’ East Providence house; Rachel Duarte arrested

Rhode Island: Teens, animals removed from ‘deplorable’ East Providence house; Rachel Duarte arrested

EAST PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- Teenage girls were sleeping on mattresses in makeshift rooms in the basement. Dozens of cats and dogs roamed in the cluttered house, where feces and food collected on the floor and furniture.

An anonymous tip Friday morning about a van of puppies dropped off at the small bungalow in Riverside led city officials to find this scene at 26 Floyd Avenue.

They seized more than 40 animals and called the state Department of Children, Youth and Families about the girls living in uninhabitable conditions.

The homeowner Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), 40, was arrested after police say she attacked officers and the building inspector condemning the house.

“It was deplorable,” said City Councilman Brian Faria, of Ward 4, as he showed photos of disheveled rooms inside the house and described what he and other city officials found.

A child-welfare caseworker had visited the house on Thursday to assess the situation of a 17-year-old girl staying there, said DCYF spokeswoman Kerri White. The girl wasn’t a foster placement, but was in a private living arrangement between her legal guardian and the family at Floyd Avenue, White said.

White declined to comment on what the caseworker saw at the house, including where the girl was sleeping. The caseworker was going to write up a final report about her findings, and “we were not going to approve the placement,” White said.

There was no explanation about why the girl was allowed to remain in the house in the meantime.

That was the question on the mind of Al Quattrucci, the city’s building inspector for 30 years. He condemned the house after walking through it and finding it unlivable. He said the stench of urine and waste in the house was so thick that “if you had a cold you could smell it.”

 

 

He said the homeowner, Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), 40, told him that DCYF had certified her to get foster children, but then tried to stop him from going into the basement to see where they were living. Quattrucci went ahead and found dark, makeshift rooms with mattresses on the floor, no windows, no exits, no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors.

“If you have a fire, you’re dead,” he said.

A 17-year-old girl on one mattress told him that she was a foster child, he said. Another teenage girl was staying on the other mattress, he said. (White said neither were foster children.)

“They were staying in a rotten cellar like a rat,” Quattrucci said. He accosted the DCYF caseworker, who’d visited there Thursday night. “I told her to her face — you should be fired,” he said.

  

Faria said the filthy conditions of the home were obvious as soon as they opened the front door. “I find it very disconcerting that a DCYF official was here last night and didn’t notice,” he said.

White said that Duarte had been licensed as a foster parent from 2014 to 2015 and had passed all of the inspections at the time. The agency is now investigating this case, White said, declining further comment.

Along with removing the teenage girls, the police seized 20 dogs, 22 cats, a bearded dragon and a pet mouse.

 

 

Quattrucci said Duarte tried to attack him and police when he told her he was condemning the house, but an officer “picked her up and dropped her like a missile in the snowbank.”

She was charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She was arraigned at District Court on Friday and released.

Duarte was not available for comment. The house was boarded up by the city.

(Providence Journal - January 13, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence

Rhode Island: Alleged animal hoarder Rachel Duarte's residence is condemned in East Providence

EAST PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- City officials and police forcibly removed an adult while state officials attended to children living in a home in Riverside where dozens of animals were being hoarded.

East Providence Police officers and City Building Inspector Al Quatrucci were on scene at 26 Floyd Ave. early Friday morning, Jan. 12.

There, they found some 40 dogs and cats living in squaller along with the homeowner, 40-year-old Rachel Duarte (aka Rachel Gouveia), and children described as teenagers.

Mr. Quatrucci deemed the house uninhabitable, though the animals appeared to be in good stead. The animals were taken into care by the East Providence Police Animal Control Division. Department of Children, Youth and Families personnel tended to the children.

Ms. Duarte was arrested on charges of simple assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after she attempted to thwart attempts to remove the animals.

Quattrucci, the city’s building inspector, said Duarte tried to attack him and police when he told her he was condemning the house, but an officer “picked her up and dropped her like a missile into the snowbank.”

Construction crews were already on scene mid-day Friday boarding up the residence.

In a follow-up discussion, EPPD Animal Control Officer Will Muggle said the total number of cats taken into care was 22 and the dogs numbered 20, including three adults and 17 puppies of various breeds.

The adults were a bulldog, a french bulldog and a Catahoula hound. Officer Muggle said his office was still attempting to determine the breeds of the pups.

Upon veterinary evaluation, Officer Muggle said each of the animals, which also included a pet mouse and a bearded dragon, was in "relatively good" condition. Some of the dogs and cats had fleas, worms were found as well in some of the latter.

"The vet checked them out and they're pretty much OK. The puppies had a lot of feces on them. The cats seemed to be in a bit better shape," Officer Muggle said.

 

 

The amount of dogs and cats taken into Animal Control was the most in his 12 years in East Providence, Officer Muggle continued. He said it was the second largest rescue he has done in city, saying EPAC once took in some 46 animals total under similar circumstances a few years ago at a home on Ivy Street.

Officer Muggle said from the perspective of his office, the matter is "still under investigation. No charges have been filed yet, but there's certainly a lot there."
The state animal control office is involved, he added.

(RhodyBeat - January 12, 2018)