Frustrated house sitter accused of trying to kill neighbor’s barking dog with chocolate-covered mothballs

A fed-up Connecticut woman is accused of attempting to poison her neighbor’s barking dog with mothball-stuffed candy, police said.

Southington police said on Jan. 31 that Sandra Sullivan, 57, was arrested and charged with criminal attempt to commit cruelty to animals.

On Dec. 23, a man reported to police that he spotted his neighbor’s house sitter, who was dressed in all black, walk along a fence and place a round object on a tree stump in her yard, the Hartford Courant reported.

According to police, the man said he became concerned Sullivan was trying to poison his dog when he then discovered a cream-filled chocolate-covered candy with a mothball hidden inside on his back stairs.

Sullivan initially denied to police she had anything to do with the tainted candy, but officers found a piece on the stump after she allowed them to look in the yard of the home where she was staying, authorities said.

Police said Sullivan then admitted she got frustrated and put out the mothball candies because she wanted to see if the neighbor’s dog would quit barking if she made the pet what she described as a “treat.”

"She tried giving it to the dog but the dog did not take it," police claim she said.

Sullivan denied she wanted to hurt the animal. After her arrest, she was released without bail, and she is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Feb. 10.

"Even if the dog does barks a lot, they should have talked to the [pet's owner]," one neighbor, Paul Fortin, said, according to WFSB. "Just let them know about the dog barking excessively but to do something like that to poison a dog, that’s just crazy. It’s not right."