Woman Who Ran Stoughton Puppy Mill Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

The following is a press release from the Office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey:

A Canadian woman, convicted in 2008 on animal cruelty charges for running a puppy mill in Stoughton, pled guilty to perjury, identity fraud and furnishing false information in a court proceeding on August 7  for pretending to be someone else throughout that Norfolk Superior Court prosecution.

The woman was known as Linda Snow when she was indicted for animal cruelty charges in connection with running Missy’s Puppyland on Park Street in Stoughton and renting a Randolph house that was severely damaged with animal filth when she used it as a chaotic breeding ground for dozens of  dogs.

The woman, whose real name is Gloria Marriott, had created the alternate Linda Snow identity using information from a young girl who died in childhood on the North Shore decades ago. 

Even as she was pleading guilty on all of her 2008 indictments, she had already created another false identity – Mary Howard – which she used to skip out on her probation and start afresh in Connecticut.

But police in Connecticut caught up with her after she brought her companion, Mark Zimmerman, who had fled his own Norfolk County indictments, to a Connecticut health care facility under a false name and abandoned him there unconscious.

She was serving time for new animal cruelty and related charges in Connecticut in 2011 when she was indicted again in Norfolk County for the perjury.

Her guilty plea August 7 resulted in Judge Kenneth Fishman imposing a sentence of two years incarceration, five years of probation, and just over $74,456 in restitution to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, which, cared for the animals she had abused and the owner of the home that she severely damaged. 

Her committed sentence includes credit for the time she has been incarcerated in Framingham State Prison since being brought back to Massachusetts last September on a Governor’s Warrant.

“The false identities and the lies are an odd sideshow, but it is the underlying case that is most disturbing,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “This was a terrible example of animal cruelty.  Eighty-nine dogs had to be rescued from deplorable conditions, many of them malnourished, diseased and literally caked in filth. She showed no interest in the chance at community rehabilitation that the court offered her in 2008, and now she is deservedly going to jail.”

Much of Marriott’s background is unknown, including details of her entry to the United States from Canada. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer so that she can be deported from the United States when she gets out of jail.

“It is appropriate that the homeowner will get some measure of restitution for the damages,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “But perhaps most important is that all of the dogs that have been in her control have since been made safe.”