HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) -
In November the I-Team told you about a Connecticut organization that said it was buying protective vests for police K-9s, but Eyewitness News found out it wasn't delivering the goods.
Now six months later Eyewitness News is learning some of these dogs are finally getting equipped.
Torrington K-9 officer Quin Sullivan and his partner, Chase, thought this day would never come - a protective vest fitted, available and ready to use.
"Chase is also part of our department's SWAT team and he goes on some of the high-risk missions with us and we want him to have that protection," Sullivan said.
Sullivan and Chase, along with four other K-9 teams, received vests during a ceremony at Connecticut State Police Troop C in Tolland, with all the equipment coming from Kathy Prudden of Stafford, who has quite a connection to these working dogs.
"I buy them as puppies, I raise them, we do some foundation basic socialization, and then we donate them," Prudden said.
Prudden, you may recall, spoke with the I-Team last year because she had written an $800 check to CT-Vest-a-Dog, expecting Chase to be outfitted with a vest a short time later.
The vest never arrived, so Prudden took matters into her own hands and got chase a vest.
"The story itself outraged enough people to make more people step up and support these guys," she said.
It was the same story for Hartford Police Department's K-9 Roscoe.
Hartford High School students had raised the money for his vest, and it was never delivered by CT-Vest-a-Dog.
And Roscoe had the same happy ending - he was recently given a vest by an organization out of Massachusetts, Vested Interest in K-9's, that saw our I-Team story.
The question is, what is happening with Mark Moran, the person in charge of CT-Vest-a-Dog, who threw us out of his police and firefighter equipment store when we started asking the tough questions.
The I-Team has stopped by his Manchester store several times since our first story to try to contact him, and it does not appear open, even during daytime hours.
Meanwhile, Manchester police sources told the I-Team Moran is being investigated for potential criminal charges, and Prudden said she recently got a call from a detective.
"I have given the supporting documentation that I have of my canceled check and the account it was put into, and the fact that Torrington didn't get their vest," Prudden said.
Beyond the police investigation of Moran, his store hours may be curtailed or shut down altogether because he may be in some hot water with federal officials as well.
The I-Team went digging at City Hall and found documents showing tens of thousand of dollars in IRS liens against Moran.
If he does respond to the I-Team's requests for a comment, we will let you know.
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