Alleged Puppy Doe abuser arraigned on new charges

The man accused of torturing Puppy Doe has pleaded innocent to charges he stole from an elderly Quincy woman in his care.

Patrick Ronan

The man accused of torturing Puppy Doe has pleaded innocent to charges he stole from an elderly Quincy woman in his care.

Radoslaw Czerkawski, 32, a Polish national, was arraigned Tuesday in Dedham Superior Court on two counts of larceny of property valued at over $250, one count of larceny of property valued at over $250 from a person over the age of 60 and one count of attempted larceny. Prosecutors allege that Czerkawski stole from the late Janina Stock, 95, of 89 Whitwell St. after he was hired by Stock's family to be her in-home caretaker.

The Norfolk County District Attorney's office said Czerkawski pretended Stock, who suffered from dementia, was his grandmother in order to convert $130,000 of her savings bonds into cash he could use.

Czerkawsi was indicted and arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court in December on a dozen counts of animal cruelty, in a case that drew worldwide attention and inspired numerous vigils by pet owners and animal rights advocates.

On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered outside Dedham Superior Court to rally for tougher penalties against animal abusers, as they have at all of Czerkawski's court appearances since his arrest in October.

Police said Stock died of natural causes on Aug. 31, the same day a brutally abused Puppy Doe was found on Carroll's Lane in Quincy. Quincy police and the Animal Rescue League asked for the public's help in finding the person responsible for torturing and starving the young female pit bull so badly that the dog had to be euthanized.

Czerkawski – who bought the dog from on Craigslist – was arrested in Connecticut in late October, after police matched him to DNA found in the Whitwell Street house where he lived with the elderly woman – who died the same day that Puppy Doe was found.

Czerkawski also faces separate charges out of New Bedford after he was accused of stealing about $6,000 from a church he was staying at, prosecutors have said.

Czerkawski is in the U.S. on an expired tourist visa and he faces deportation once his case is over in Massachusetts, federal officials have said.

David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, said Czerkawski faces up to 10 years in prison for the larceny from a person over 60 and up to five years on each of the other three larceny charges. He faces up to five years in prison on each animal cruelty charge.