By Allan Stein

STOUGHTON – Janet Torren knocked on doors, walked through woods and placed ads on the Inter- net hoping to find “Shai,” her beloved and valuable 4-year-old Silky Yorkshire terrier that went missing on Sept. 18 in Stoughton.

“I was petrified. I knew something was wrong. It was like Shai disappeared from the face of the Earth,” said Torren.
She hadn’t.

Torren said she was furious to learn several days later — from acting Police Chief Thomas Murphy — that Shai had been found by Stoughton

Animal Control Officer Kristin Bousquet the same day she was lost. But Bousquet had given the dog, which can cost as much as $2,000, to a friend of a Stoughton police officer on Sept. 22, the acting chief told Torren.

The department’s policy is to hold stray animals for a week before they are adopted or euthanized.

Murphy returned the dog to Torren on Oct. 1.

But now Torren wants answers and justice for the pain she and her family went through for nearly two weeks.

“I don’t ever want this to happen to anybody else,” said Torren, who lives in Rochester.

Shai escaped Sept. 18 when Torren visited her son Kevin Torren in Stoughton and the two went out for breakfast. Home alone, the dog managed to escape through a sliding door, Janet Torren said.
Torren launched a campaign to find her.

“I went through woods. Every single day, I advertised on Craigslist for lost pets,” she said, adding she made the 40-minute drive to Stoughton several times searching for Shai.

On Sept. 20, she called Bousquet to see if Shai might be at the Stoughton pound. Torren said she received a message from the town on

Sept. 21 at 12:24 p.m.

“This is Stoughton animal control. We do not have any dog that matches that description at this time,” the message said, according to Torren.

Two days later, Torren spoke with Bousquet again. By now, Torren said she was frantic.

“(Bousquet) told me to have some respect, that she is a police officer. She was very arrogant,” Torren said.

But Shai, which Torren bought as a puppy for $1,500, had a locator chip embedded in her ear. Torren said she called the chip’s distributor, 24HourPets.com, and was told on Oct. 1 that Shai’s chip had been scanned by a device licensed to the Stoughton pound on Sept. 18, the same day Shai had escaped.

Now irate, Torren said she called Bousquet on Oct. 1 and gave her an ultimatum — return Shai or face criminal charges.

“I called her up and I said, ‘I want my dog back! I don’t care how you get it back,’” said Torren.

Torren said when she made the threat, Bousquet told her Shai would be at the Stoughton police station within 30 minutes.

Later that day, according to Torren, she and Shai were reunited in the acting chief’s office.

“I was just totally relieved. Shai went crazy. She was just a real sweetheart. (The chief) was very good about it. I have to admit that the one who had her treated her fantastic,” Torren said.

Although the animal officer works in the Police Department, Bousquet is a civilian who is hired by Town Manager Mark S. Stankiewicz.

Stankiewicz said he is looking into Torren’s complaint, but said he could not provide details.

“I am aware of this particular complaint. It’s been reviewed by the Stoughton Police Department under which the animal control officer works. Right now it’s a personnel matter. Any action, I cannot talk about,” Stankiewicz said.

The acting chief also declined to discuss the incident, saying it is being investigated.

“I can tell you her dog was returned to her in good health on Oct. 1,” Murphy said. “The matter was handled professionally.”

Contacted Monday, Bousquet declined to comment.

Bousquet has been the town’s full-time animal control officer since 2003, having been hired part-time in 2000. Her salary is $40,705.

Torren said her son, sister Valerie Boyle and brother Theodore Michalski, 63, all helped her cope with the ordeal.

On Sept. 23, Michalski, a retired Weymouth police officer, died of pancreatic cancer.

“I was dealing with two losses. I think a lot of people would have stopped (searching) and let it go. But with everything else that was going on with me, I couldn’t,” Torren said.