George Santos Stole $3K from Disabled US Veteran, Let Service Dog Die

by Mitch Baxter

In a new low, now-Congressman George Santos stole $3,000 from a GoFundMe charity fundraising, earmarked to pay for emergency surgery for a disabled homeless US Navy Veteran's service dog. Because Santos stole the money, the dog died. In 2016, disabled US Navy veteran Richard Osthoff went to the Friends of Pets Untied ("FOTU") - a "charity" run by Anthony Devolder a/k/a George Santos - to help him raise the funds to pay for emergency surgery for his service dog Sapphire. The dog had a stomach tumor, and needed immediate surgery to be saved. After the GoFundMe raised the $3,000, Santos stole the money, and disappeared. The surgery was canceled for lack of funds and Sapphire died from the tumor. Santos has operated under numerous pseudonyms - fake names - including Anthony DeVolder, Anthony Zabrovsky, and Kitara Rivache. He has engaged in what one of the leading newspapers in Brazil - where Santos is a dual citizen - described as "a two decade long petty crime wave," Osthoff contacted the North Shore Leader and confirmed that he was a disabled, homeless veteran living in a tent in New Jersey off Route 9 with his service-dog Sapphire, who had developed a stomach tumor. A veterinary technician referred Osthoff to Santos who was then running the "charity" FOTU. The "charity" was never registered with the IRS. Several witnesses have described how Santos used the charity as a front to simply scam and steal money from well-meaning donors on GoFundMe - and never deliver the funds to the needy cause. Santos set up the GoFundMe for Osthoff and Sapphire, and quickly raised the $3,000 from people trying to help. Santos then made numerous excuses for not turning over the money, and then disappeared. Sapphire died within weeks, leaving a desperate Osthoff on the brink of suicide, begging in the street for money to cremate her. Santos is now being widely denounced for this fraud, being labeled as "George Scamtos" and "The Great Fatsby." A majority of the members of the US House of Representatives have now supported expelling him from the House. Expulsion requires a 2/3 vote of the US House. The North Shore Leader first exposed Santos as "a Fabulist - a Fake" and detailing his lies, several months before the election. Leader publisher Grant Lally, appearing on MSNBC Saturday Morning with Cori Griffin, called Santos a "sociopath," and said of his stealing the money raised for a disabled American veteran's service dog, that "this is pure evil; no one can support him at this point."