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A Navy veteran who accused George Santos of stealing thousands of dollars from his sick dog’s fundraiser said his beloved pet is “smiling down from heaven” over the former congressman’s expulsion.
Richard Osthoff told The Post Friday he was relieved to hear Santos was ousted from his US House of Representatives seat for New York earlier in the day.
“I have a deceased little girl — my little puppy — who I know is extremely happy right now and smiling down from heaven,” Osthoff said. “She will probably be even more happy when I take him to court and he will be proven that he is a liar, but this is a good start.
“I am happy for the people of New York, who led a grassroots movement to try to expel him. This guy scammed me when I was homeless, already down and out and caused my dog to die, but he still somehow became a fricking congressman. It’s unheard of and never should’ve happened.”
Osthoff said he still has not recovered from the emotional anguish caused by Santos when he allegedly took $3,000 from a GoFundMe campaign for his dying service dog, Sapphire, in 2016.
Osthoff was homeless and sleeping in a tent in New Jersey with Sapphire at that time, when a man named Anthony Devolder approached him and said he would connect him with a veterinarian who could help remove a growing tumor from the dog’s stomach.
Devolder — the name used by Santos before he entered politics — allegedly set up a GoFundMe campaign for the veteran and his pit bull, while touting his charity Friends of Pets Unlimited.
The campaign raised $3,000, but Osthoff said he still has not received a cent of that money to this day. Sapphire died before she could get the life-saving surgery that Santos had promised to deliver.
Osthoff said he needed his dog because he was suffering from mental health problems caused by his time in the military. He said Sapphire had a cantaloupe-size tumor growing out of her liver and the surgery could’ve helped the pup survive a few more years while he found another dog to train.
For months, Santos allegedly kept telling Osthoff he would send him the money and told him to go to New York to see a veterinarian he knew.
“[Santos] not only robbed me of my best friend and companion, but she was my medication,” the veteran said. “Sapphire was dying and all I could do was watch her life snap away from her, but this guy just faded away off into the sunset with the money that could’ve kept her alive. He almost took my life from me because I was ready to kill myself.”
Osthoff said when the GoFundMe money never came through from Santos, he panhandled to raise enough cash to put Sapphire down because the ailing pup was in too much pain.
“I had to beg for money because there was nothing else I could do for her,” he said of his beloved service dog. “It was the most heartbreaking thing in the world. I was sitting there in front of a Home Depot, a grown-ass man crying my eyes out with a little cup in my hand asking for money. It was horrible. It was so, so devastating to me because we could’ve saved her.”
Osthoff has since cooperated with officials from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and gave the agents his text message exchanges with Santos from 2016. He said he hasn’t heard back from authorities since then, but he is also considering filing his own lawsuit against the disgraced former congressman.
Santos’ short-lived congressional career representing New York’s 3rd District has been mired in controversy.
A House Ethics Committee report confirmed Santos used his 2022 campaign money on OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox and spa treatments. The ethics panel also noted that Santos had spent $3,332.81 on an Airbnb when his campaign’s calendar noted he was “off at [the] Hampton’s [sic] for the weekend.”
Santos, 35, also allegedly wrote $15,000 in bad checks to Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania, but managed to weasel his way out of that case after claiming his checkbook was stolen.
Federal prosecutors in May filed a 13-count indictment against the lying Long Island ex-congressman for allegedly embezzling $50,000 in campaign money, illegally using COVID unemployment benefits and lying to Congress on his financial disclosure forms.
He was hit with more criminal charges in October accusing him of inflating his campaign fundraising numbers and charging contributors’ credit cards without their consent.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Friday, Santos became the sixth member to be expelled from the US House of Representatives on a 311-114 vote, with more than 100 of his fellow GOP lawmakers supporting his removal.
Osthoff hopes Santos’ forced departure from Congress also will get the ball rolling on the various criminal allegations against him.
Osthoff said he is no longer homeless, is employed, has a home and is living with his three new dogs, who keep him happy. Nevertheless, he still hopes to get justice for Sapphire.
“[Santos] screwed me over and he screwed over so many others,” Osthoff said. “He was a good salesman and knew how to manipulate the situation. He is an a—hole scumbag and he killed my dog. I probably will never see a dime from him until he does that [competition TV show] ‘Dancing With the Stars’ or something, but I’m not going to give up.”
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