A pregnant Elgin woman has been sentenced to six months of good behaviour after taking £1,300 in a fraudulent puppy scam.
Expectant mother Kaitlyn Brown, 23, failed to appear at Elgin Sheriff Court to hear her sentence having sent in a sick note to the sheriff.
The court heard Brown had previously pled guilty to the con, which took place over two weeks last January.
Brown, of Thornhill Drive in Elgin, admitted taking deposits from dog-lovers for puppies she did not have.
The fraud was said to have taken place at Slains Drive in the town between January 12 and January 29.
It is not known how many puppies she pretended to have for sale, but deposits amounting to £1,300 were paid to Brown, according to the charges.
Sentence deferred
Brown’s defence agent Matthew O’Neil told the court his client was suffering from a rare form of morning sickness and was currently in Dr Gray’s hospital in Elgin, he asked for her sentence to be deferred.
Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph agreed and suggested a deferral until after Brown had given birth, which will be sometime in May.
Sheriff David Harvie deferred sentencing until June 2024 and Brown was ordered to be of good behaviour until then.
Brown is the second scammer to appear in court this week after promising pet lovers animals that didn’t exist.
Conviction follows kitten con
On Thursday Vicki Clinton was branded “devious” after she took deposits from people for kittens.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told over nearly five months, nine people were taken in by the con, paying deposits that totalled £470.
While being interviewed by police, she admitted to taking part in a fraudulent scheme and that at no point did she have kittens for sale.
Sheriff Margaret Hodge said she noted that since this incident Clinton had managed to “turn her life around”.
However, she described Clinton’s actions as a “devious scheme to defraud these people.”
Sheriff Hodge ordered Clinton, of Smithfield Gardens, Aberdeen, to repay every one of her victims in full and made a compensation order for a total of £470.
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