By MELISSA N. WARREN / Review Appeal Staff Reporter
Franklin dog breeder Jennifer Siliski does not currently have any criminal charges against her in the “puppy mill” case that resulted from the Jan. 22 raid on her Franklin home kennel.
But that doesn’t mean she is a stranger to court cases, or a stranger to complaints about her Maltese breeding business.
And it’s those previous charges and judgments that collectively will bring Siliski’s fraudulent behavior into the open, said Linda Geary of Consumer Affairs.
To date, Geary said she has collected evidence of more than $100,000 in damages from Siliski’s former customers.
“Every agency has a dollar sign amount of damages that causes them to step in and do something,” she said. “I’ve been working hard to reach that level, and now that we have the evidence I’m hoping to step up the investigation.”
The complainants, who reside in nearly every state and even as far away as Brazil, have contacted Consumer Affairs with evidence of false registration records from Siliski. According to these records, Siliski claimed all her dogs were registered with the American Kennel Club.
“Siliski has not registered with the American Kennel Club since 2001,” Geary said.
The other avenue of complaints are of monetary losses because the customers received sickly or diseased dogs, Geary said.
In the case of Franklin residents Jack and Linda Gillespie, who bought a Siliski pup in July 2002, the Siliski dog they paid $1,300 for wasn’t just sick - it died.
“We had the dog for six days, and in that time the dog’s health just went downhill,” the Gillespies said. “Initially the dog was playful, but by the third day it was almost lifeless. By the sixth day the vet had worked all night on it, but it still died because it had a bacteria.”
The couple was referred to Siliski’s kennel by Rebecca Byrd - Siliski’s defense lawyer in the juvenile court custody case of Siliski’s four children, all of whom were removed and taken into Department of Children’s Services custody Jan 23.
“Byrd told us that she had gotten her Maltese dogs from Siliski, and she had even bred one of her two Maltese pups with a Siliski dog,” Gillespie said.
When the Gillespies contacted Siliski after the puppy died, she offered to give the couple another dog for the price of $650.
“I was floored,” Mr. Gillespie said. “All Siliski wanted was the money. But I told her what goes around, comes around. And now it is.”
Geary says this is just one example of the kind of claims she receives daily.
“Here’s another one,” she said yesterday as she simultaneously answered phone calls from former Siliski customers and drafted letters to alert agencies of hitting the $100,000 mark. “I just got an e-mail from a consumer who says that some of the pictures Jennifer Siliski has on her Web page are taken from this consumer’s copyrighted Web site. Jennifer is claiming these dogs in the pictures are hers.”
Geary has spearheaded the task force on this case along with the district attorney’s office, Williamson County Animal Control, the Humane Society and the Better Business Bureau.
“There is a total of 13 agencies involved, although not all can be named at this time,” she said. “I am now going to put pressure on the remaining four agencies that need to be involved.”
Geary hopes the investigation will lead to a solid case should criminal charges be brought against Siliski. Her main concern is that Siliski misrepresented the product of her Maltese dogs.
“Basically, this amount of reported damage does not even include the shipping costs or the vet costs incurred by these consumers,” Geary said.
The dogs, even if they are healthy, are monetarily worthless because the owners bought them in hopes of showing them, breeding them or having a certified pedigree dog, she said.
“We’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg.”
Staff Reporter Melissa N. Warren can be contacted at melissa@reviewappeal.com.