by Bea Peterson
NYS Police arrested Town of Hoosick Dog Control Officer Matthew Beck on Sunday, March 22. He was charged with petit larceny, forgery, submitting a false written statement and official misconduct of a public servant.
According to Trooper Maureen Tuffey, April Stevens of Clay Hill Road contacted the Dog Control Officer to report her two female black and brown Rottweiler/Golden Retriever mix dogs were missing.
The dogs went missing on February 27. When Stevens was posting flyers throughout Hoosick Falls in mid-March regarding her missing dogs, she was approached by a resident of nearby Harkin Hollow Road who told her she had found the two dogs in her barn shortly after they went missing. She reported the find to the State Police, and shortly thereafter Beck arrived and picked them up. Tuffey said they were never returned to Stevens and to this date they have not been found.
According to Tuffey, police investigators asked Beck about Stevens’ dogs. He claimed he had returned the dogs to a Town man. Those dogs were male and did not look like the missing dogs. Tuffey believes Beck was trying to confuse people into believing the dogs he returned were Stevens’. “And they were not. He gave us a convoluted story.” On Wednesday, April 1, Tuffey said Beck had not added anything to his original statement as to the whereabouts of the dogs. “He said he returned them to their owner after being shown the proper paperwork, which, obviously, didn’t happen that way.”
On Thursday, March 27, Beck appeared in Town Court. His case was adjourned to Rensselaer County Court due to the felony charge.
Officer Tuffey said the petit larceny charge concerns the missing dogs. He took the owner’s two dogs and never gave them back. The felony is a forgery charge because Beck allegedly filled out the Agriculture and Markets Form DL-18 saying that he had returned the dogs to the owner.
Beck, a farmer, is a former Hoosick Town Board Councilman. He is still the Town’s Dog Control Officer.