Bizarre Twist in Puppy Case: MCC Instructor Fabricated 'Woodstock' Tale, Police Say 
 
 By Stephanie Price | 12:30 p.m. April 29, 2016 
 
 A McHenry County College adjunct psychology instructor has been charged with a felony in a bizarre twist in the case of Wo odstock, the “abandoned” 3-week-old puppy previously reported found along Route 14. 
 
 Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of the 400 block of Woodbine Lane, Fox River Grove, was charged April 28 with disorderly conduct – filing or causing the filing of a false police report, a Class 3 felony, according to Woodstock Police. Her bond was set at $10,000 and she is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. May 12. 
 
 After a week-long investigation, Woodstock Police now say Sanchez received the small puppy as a gift from a Woodstock couple. Sanchez then took the puppy to MCC in Crystal Lake, where she teaches a human development class. She told her students she found the puppy sealed in a pillowcase along the roadside, a story police now say was fabricated. 
 
 “ The initial report of the dog being found alongside Route 14 in Woodstock has been determined to be unfounded resulting in the ... criminal charge,” Chief Robert Lowen said. 
 
 MCC student Natalie Kawell, of Woodstock, volunteered to take the pup to Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue, 129 E. Higgins Road, Gilberts. Kawell did not know the story was allegedly false. 
 
 The police investigation revealed a Woodstock couple owns the dog who delivered 10 puppies in the family's apartment. Per the couple's consent, police visited the apartment April 27 and saw the nine remaining puppies, which were similar in appearance and age to the puppy found last week, and determined Woodstock was from the same litter. 
 
 After interviewing the couple, police detectives said they learned the couple gave the three-week-old pup to Dr. Sanchez, a therapist, who provides service to one of their family members. 
 
 In the meantime, the Woodstock couple allowed McHenry County Animal Control to take custody of the remaining nine puppies, which were then delivered to the care of Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue, where little Woodstock is receiving care in a foster home. The mother of the litter, who purportedly serves as a therapeutic service dog for one of the household members, was not removed from the home. 
 
 “ The mother of the puppies was subsequently left at the apartment, as no immediate danger was evident,” Lowen said. 
 
 Kawell, the student who took the puppy to Hoof Woof & Animal Rescue, said she was very "taken aback" by the allegation her instructor made up the tale of finding Woodstock along the road. Kawell spoke to Sanchez April 28, before the charges were publicly announced, and the instructor "acknowledged what she had done was wrong," Kawell said. 
 
 "I just don't know why she said that," Kawell said. 
 
 MCC Interim Vice President Christina Haggerty said college administrators are aware of developments in the case and are addressing the matter. 
 
 "Upon learning of this development, we have immediately initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue," Haggerty said. "Please be assured that we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will be no impact on our students, or in the classroom." 
 
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 ​ The response from the public has been tremendous since the original, now known-false story broke last week that little Woodstock was placed into a pillowcase, sealed with duct tape and abandoned along Route 14. 
 
 To date, Hoof Woof & Meow Animal Rescue has received 40 applications from people wanting to adopt the puppy, according to Kellie Reed, intake and foster coordinator and cofounder of the agency. With arrival of the rest of the litter, which includes six males and four females, Reed is hopeful she will find good homes for the dogs. 
 
 Woodstock's mother is a beagle/ Boston Terrier mix and his father is a beagle/ Boston Terrier mix. The puppies will be available for adoption at the end of May. 
 
 In addition to Woodstock's litter, the agency has 22 other puppies that will soon be available for adoption. Six puppies are a mix of beagle, pug and Catahoula Leopard dog. Three are Australian Shepherd mix and six are Labrador Retriever mix. Another two orphaned puppies, their breed unknown, will arrive from Memphis, Tenn., this weekend, Reed said. 
 
 Anyone interested in adopting a puppy should visit the agency's website www.hoofwoofmeow.org . ||||| A McHenry County College instructor who told her students she found a puppy inside a duct-taped pillowcase along a highway has now been charged by Woodstock police, who say she fabricated the story. 
 
 Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of Fox River Grove, was charged Thursday with felony disorderly conduct / filing a false police report, about eight days after she brought the puppy to show her students at MCC, where she is an adjunct psychology professor. 
 
 Sanchez, police say, told the class she was riding her motorcycle on U.S. Route 14, east of Illinois Route 47, when she found the puppy, believed to be a boxer or mixed breed, inside a pillowcase sealed with duct tape. A student reported the incident to an animal shelter, which contacted Woodstock police. They investigated the incident and determined that the dog actually had been given to Sanchez and that she was seeking to find a new home for it, police said. 
 
 "It was her living arrangements – she has a partner that doesn't want any part of a dog, so she couldn't keep it," Police Chief Robert Lowen said Friday. "Why she chose to concoct a story, I don't know." 
 
 Woodstock Police Department Hope A. Sanchez Hope A. Sanchez (Woodstock Police Department) 
 
 MCC issued a statement Friday afternoon saying it was initiating college personnel procedures in the case. 
 
 "Please be advised we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will no impact on our students or in the classroom," chief communications officer Christina Haggerty said. 
 
 Lowen said public interest in the case led to a tip and on Wednesday his officers visited a Woodstock apartment and met with two individuals. Inside, police say they found nine puppies along with the mother, and that the puppies were similar in appearance and age, about five weeks, as to Sanchez's puppy. 
 
 Police determined that Sanchez provides services for a family member at the residence, and that she was given the puppy. 
 
 Police have brought all 10 puppies to the Hoof, Woof and Meow Animal Rescue at 129 E. Higgins Road in Gilberts, and all are reported to be doing well. The shelter is accepting applications for adoption. 
 
 Sanchez is due to appear in court May 12 at the McHenry County Government Center. 
 
 Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. ||||| CHICAGO (CBS) — A community college instructor has been charged with felony disorderly conduct, after she told her class she found an abandoned puppy inside a duct-taped pillowcase, but it turned out she made up the story. 
 
 Woodstock Police began investigating after one of Dr. Hope Sanchez’s students informed police of her story. 
 
 Police said Sanchez, an adjunct instructor at a McHenry County College, had told her class she found the puppy in the pillowcase while riding her bike on U.S. Route 14 in Woodstock. She brought the puppy to class, and her students called Hoof Woof and Meow Animal Rescue in Gilberts, which took in the puppy. 
 
 After learning about the puppy’s rescue on the news and social media, two people at a Woodstock apartment complex called police and told them the puppy was part of a litter their dog had given birth to in March. 
 
 Woodstock Police Chief Bob Lowen said the couple gave one of the puppies to Sanchez, who is a therapist and doctor of psychology, because she was working with their child. 
 
 Police were able to confirm the puppy Sanchez claimed to have found was from the couple’s litter, and after questioning Sanchez, prosecutors authorized an arrest warrant for one count of felony disorderly conduct for causing the filing of a false police report. 
 
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 Lowen said Sanchez admitted making up the story after learning she couldn’t keep the puppy at her home, and she thought her story would convince someone else to adopt him. 
 
 “She was completely embarrassed by it, and remorseful to put everybody through all of this stuff,” Lowen said. 
 
 Sanchez, of Fox River Grove, turned herself in and posted bail, police said. She was due back in court in McHenry County on May 12. 
 
 WBBM’s attempts to reach her have not been successful. 
 
 A McHenry County College spokesperson says Sanchez is finishing her third semester as an adjunct professor. 
 
 “Upon learning of this development, we immediately initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue. Please be assured that we are addressing this issue in the most appropriate and timely manner, and we are taking every measure to ensure that there will be no impact on our students, or in the classroom,” the college said in a prepared statement. 
 
 Hoof Woof and Meow Animal Rescue has since taken in all 10 puppies from the litter, including Woodstock, the puppy that had been given to Sanchez. The puppies will be available for adoption by the end of May. ||||| WOODSTOCK – Police said a story about a puppy, since dubbed Woodstock, being found on the side of the road after being abandoned turned out to be just that – a story. 
 
 An animal cruelty investigation by the Woodstock Police Department has found that Woodstock was not abandoned in a pillow case that was duct-taped shut, but rather given to a woman who then concocted the whole story, Police Chief Robert Lowen said. 
 
 Hope A. Sanchez, 38, of 407 Woodbine Lane in Fox River Grove, now faces a felonious disorderly conduct charge for allegedly filing or causing the filing of a false police report, police said. 
 
 The investigation, which began after the abandonment incident was reported last week, took police to a Woodstock apartment where nine other puppies were found, along with the puppies' mother, according to a department news release. 
 
 The two people at the apartment told police one of the 10 puppies was given to a family counselor, Sanchez, who also teaches as an adjunct professor at McHenry County College. 
 
 Police said Sanchez apparently took the puppy to an MCC class and told students the made-up story. 
 
 "So [it is believed] Sanchez takes it home and for one reason or another can't keep the puppy at her house," Lowen said. "So she takes the puppy to the class she teaches and concocts this story that while she was riding her motorcycle, she saw a pillowcase moving and rescued a puppy." 
 
 A student in Sanchez's class called Hoof, Woof, and Meow Animal Rescue, where all 10 puppies are being kept, and then called the Woodstock Police Department. The puppies were relocated to the shelter while the mother, said to be a "therapeutic service dog" for one of the residents of the apartment, was left at the residence. Police said there was no evidence she was in immediate danger. 
 
 After police spoke to Sanchez on Wednesday and conferred with the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office on charges, Sanchez on Friday turned herself into Woodstock detectives. 
 
 Sanchez posted the $1,000 bond and a court date was scheduled for 9 a.m. May 12. 
 
 All 10 puppies are reported to be doing well at the rescue shelter, which is now accepting applications for adoption.
– In a bizarre turn of events, an Illinois community college adjunct professor who claimed to have found a puppy inside a pillowcase along the highway is now being charged with a felony, the Chicago Tribune reports. Earlier this month, 38-year-old Hope Sanchez brought the 3-week-old puppy to show her psychology class at McHenry County College. She allegedly told her students she found it in a pillowcase sealed with duct tape while riding her motorcycle on US Route 14 in Woodstock. According to CBS Chicago, a student contacted an animal shelter, which took the puppy. A police report regarding what was believed to be a case of animal abuse was filed; reports conflict as to whether the student or the shelter filed the report. The puppy's rescue made the local news, which apparently caught the eye of two Woodstock residents—who informed police they gave the puppy to Sanchez as a gift. Police confronted Sanchez, who allegedly admitted to making up the story in the hope that someone would adopt the puppy. "It was her living arrangements—she has a partner that doesn't want any part of a dog, so she couldn't keep it," Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen said Friday. She's now been charged with felony disorderly conduct in connection with the filing of a false police report. Confused? So is Natalie Kawell, the aforementioned student. "I just don't know why she said that," she tells the Woodstock Independent. Sanchez has a May 12 court date, and the college says it has "initiated college procedures related to this personnel issue." (And speaking of dogs, you may not want to hug yours.)