It’s stories like these that make people think twice about trusting strangers to take care of their pets, let alone their home. A woman in Florida has accused a pet sitter for mistreating her dogs and taking her belongings after catching her on a home security camera. In July, Natalie Jones needed to hire someone to take care of her two dogs, a golden retriever and a maltipoo, while she was on a trip abroad. She put her trust in a pet sitter she found online, but it turned into what she calls a “nightmare.”
Owner thought the pet sitter could be trusted because of her reviews on Rover
Jones used the popular Rover app, which connects pet owners with potential sitters, and decided to hire Sara Bettencourt for several reasons, according to Gulf Coast News.
Not only did she have 39 recent reviews, but she was apparently a vet tech and ran a dog grooming business. They also met each face to face, and nothing seemed to be off.
However, Jones was appalled when she went through her home security footage and discovered what Bettencourt did while she was away.
“It was breaking my heart,” she said, “they would come in and the big dogs, very friendly, goes to welcome you. And they would be screaming at him, kicking him, using their arms to get him away.”
If that weren’t enough, footage that Jones provided to the outlet reveals that Bettencourt and another stranger had grabbed items from her home and put them in trash bags that they hauled to their car.
“And then, you see them just going through the cabinets, the refrigerator. You hear him talking about doing coke constantly,” she recounted. “You see them sniffing, washing, flushing their nose out in the sink, and I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like a nightmare.’
Jones says her dogs have not been the same since.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested Bettencourt for grand theft. She has since been released.
A statement from Rover says that, after they conducted an investigation, Bettencourt’s account “has been deactivated” and the company has “refunded Ms. Jones’ stay and offered to cover the costs of a house cleaning.”
