Navy vet says George Santos kept $3,000 raised to save his beloved, dying service dog


When Richard Osthoff's service dog, Sapphire, needed lifesaving surgery in May 2016, a veterinary technician in New Jersey took him aside and told him he knew a guy who runs a pet charity that could help raise the $3,000 to remove the stomach tumor, Osthoff tells local Long Island news site Patch. The guy was George Santos, who went by Anthony Devolder at the time, and the charity in question was Friends of Pets United. Santos is now in Congress, and House Republicans just put him on two committees despite his growing list of documented lies.
Osthoff is a disabled Navy veteran, and he was homeless at the time, unable to work due to a leg injury. Sapphire was a gift from a veterans' charity.
Santos agreed to raise the $3,000 and set up a GoFundMe page for Sapphire, but when that goal was reached, Santos never gave the money to Osthoff, according to Osthoff and a second New Jersey veteran, retired police Sgt. Michael Boll. Osthoff also gave Patch's Jacqueline Sweet copies of text messages in which Santos claimed Friends of Pets United was a respected 501c3 — it was not a registered charity, The New York Times found — and would use the funds raised for Sapphire to help other dogs since, according to his own vet, Sapphire wasn't a candidate for surgery.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I contacted [Santos] and told him 'You're messing with a veteran,' and that he needed to give back the money or use it to get Osthoff another dog," Boll told Patch. "He was totally uncooperative on the phone." GoFundMe wasn't able to help at the time, he added. "I told Rich to go to the police, but we had limited information" about Santos.
Sapphire died in January 2017, without having undergone the surgery.
"I really felt bad for Rich," Boll told Patch. "He has PTSD, and this dog is his lifeline. When I first heard about it, I thought, this is going to kill him." Osthoff said Sapphire "never left my side in 10 years. I went through two bouts of seriously considering suicide, but thinking about leaving her without me saved my life." Read more about about Osthoff's Santos story at Patch.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
6 charming homes in Rhode Island
Feature Featuring an award-winning home on Block Island and a casket-making-company-turned-condo in Providence
-
Team Trump brings the MAGA playbook to Albania's elections
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The architects of the president's 2024 victory are looking east to extend their populist reach
-
Narco subs are helping fuel a global cocaine surge
The Explainer Drug smugglers are increasingly relying on underwater travel to hide from law enforcement
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations