Suffolk News-Herald

The woman who is charged with more than 29 counts of fraud in a &uot;puppy scam&uot; listened Monday as several witnesses described to a Suffolk General District Court judge the heartbreak their families experienced when the woman skipped town with their money and the pups.

Monica Arnold, also known by law enforcement as Monica Binkley and Monica Brinkley, is charged by Suffolk Police with selling Labrador puppies through newspaper ads and not delivering on the sale. Some of the pups were sold for $400 each and some went for $800.

She was living in a Murphy’s Mill Road at the time of the incidents, Nov. and Dec. 2003, and she was already facing four counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. Those charges were forwarded to the grand jury on Monday.

Investigators are still gathering information as to her activities prior to the time she took 47 of the puppies and the money and fled to a small Texas town.

Police extradited Arnold back to Suffolk in early January and she is being held in Western Tidewater Regional Jail until her expected trial date of July 22.