LOGAN — A West Haven woman who believes she found an abandoned Great Pyrenees named Grace after searching for the dog for months now faces criminal charges accusing her of stealing a herd dog whose owners say is not Grace.
Shelly Dawn Rovira, 59, was charged last week with theft and obstruction of justice, both third-degree felonies, in Logan’s 1st District Court.
Police say they were contacted May 26 by a person who said their dog was stolen from their property near Avon, Cache County, by Rovira earlier that week, and that Rovira was posting about it on social media.
Police found posts and pictures on Facebook showing Rovira with the dog on the property and on a public page called “Save Momma Dog the Great Pyrenees — ‘Grace.’” The posts “showed photos of Shelly with the dog and some comments saying she had finally saved Grace,” according to charging documents.
Police contacted Rovira and she admitted she took the dog off the property, but said she had purchased the dog from an employee herding sheep, the charges state.
Police then told her the dog was reported stolen, and she needed to return the dog or “she would be depriving the owner of their property and concealing the stolen property.” The owner said the dog is valued at $1,500.
Rovira said she paid an employee $400 for the dog and had spent $2,000 in vet bills caring for it, police say.
Investigators spoke to the employee using an interpreter because he doesn’t speak English. The employee told police that two women — identifying one as Rovira — had come onto the property and showed him a picture of the dog. However, he said he couldn’t understand them and told police he kept telling the women he couldn’t understand them in Spanish, according to the charges.
The employee said he eventually left the women to return to work herding the sheep back to camp and when he returned, he discovered that the women and the dog were gone.
“He again reiterated that he could not understand what they were saying and he would not sell a dog that he did not own,” the charges state. The employee did say that he had found $400 tucked in a shoe in his backpack.
Contacted again by police, Rovira said the dog “was in a safe place,” according to charging documents. “Shelly stated that she would go to jail before giving up the dog.”
Rancher Lane Jensen told the Deseret News last month the incident is a case of mistaken identity. The dog taken from his property is Fergie.
The story began in December when snowmobilers noticed a dog in the mountains with three puppies. Kat Perry and her boyfriend discovered the animals stranded in the Ant Flat area east of Pineview Reservoir. They called for help saving the dogs, prompting county search and rescue crews to bring a sled and carry the puppies to safety.
The mother, however, ran away. Authorities believe Grace had left her sheepherder owners to give birth, and they left the dog behind while avoiding a snowstorm.
Rovira spent the next five months looking for Grace and asking for support on Facebook.
Yet Perry said the dog Rovira posted about is not the dog she found that snowy day in December.
“I can honestly say that’s not Grace,” Perry said. “There’s no way you could pick Grace up like that and put her around your shoulders.”
Perry also said the dog’s physical features didn’t match Grace’s. She said the dog’s head was too small and that she was taller and lankier than Grace.