The second in a series of hearings for a Franklin Township kennel owner charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property has been delayed.

A preliminary hearing on the second round of charges against Patricia E. Gadaleta originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon before District Judge Bruce Appleton of Palmerton has been postponed until 1:30 p.m. Dec. 6.The owner of Musket Labradors, Gadaleta, 51, of 974 Pohopoco Drive, Lehighton, was charged in September after state police at Lehighton were notified that she had passed numerous bad checks to Cheri and Kevin Conway of Klamath Falls, Oregon, for two purebred Labrador Retrievers that she purchased from the couple. Cheri is the owner of Thornwood Labrador Retrievers.At Gadaleta's first hearing last month before Appleton, the Conways were present and Cheri testified.Pennsylvania State Trooper Nicolas De La Iglesia, the investigating officer on the East Coast, testified that after he was assigned to the case, he obtained a search warrant for the Gadaleta property, which was executed on Sept. 23.As part of the search, De La Iglesia said he discovered both Labradors, which were identified using the microchip information that each dog had been implanted with before leaving the Conway's property, as well as receipts with Meg Kippler's name on it. These receipts also had the Conway's name and address in the recipient spots.After the witness testimony, Appleton ruled that Gadaleta's case had enough evidence and would be referred to the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas for review in its entirety.Gadaleta faces charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and bad checks. She is currently incarcerated in Carbon County Prison.According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by De La Iglesia:The state Department of Agriculture has a functional dog kennel registered at 974 Pohopoco Drive that is operated by Gadaleta and her husband, Anthony Gadaleta.The victim, Cheri Conway, who is also a dog breeder, resides in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The victim was contacted by telephone by a woman who identified herself as Meg Kipler on July 26. The woman inquired about purchasing dogs from the victim. An agreement was made to sell two dogs to Meg Kipler, along with two shipping crates, and shipping charges. The total amount was $5,040.On Aug. 9, the victim shipped two male dogs via airfreight from Sacramento International Airport to Philadelphia International Airport. The dogs were shipped to Meg Kipler of 1613 Conrad Ave., Waterford, N.J.The dogs were paid for with a check, which was sent FedEx overnight to the victim. The victim did not attempt to deposit the check until Aug. 11, after the dogs were shipped. At that time, the victim became aware that the check could not be deposited due to non-sufficient funds. The check in the amount of $5,040 was to be drawn on a First Commonwealth FCU account.The victim contacted Gadaleta, who identified herself as Meg Kipler, and she agreed to send another check via FedEx overnight. A FedEx package was sent on Aug. 19, but then canceled before its arrival at the victim's residence. The victim again contacted the person identifying herself as Meg Kipler.On Aug. 24, the victim received a second personal check to be drawn from the same FCU account number. This check was written in the amount of $5,190, and was also returned as non-sufficient funds. It should be noted that on the FedEx bill for the package in which this check was received, Meg Kipler's address was listed as 974 Pohopoco Drive, Lehighton.The victim's bank held the actual checks, and upon reading that they had been defrauded, they requested to view the checks. When the checks were held to light source, information with Anthony Gadaleta's name and address was clearly covered by the sticker in the left corner of the checks.The victim subsequently reported this incident to the Klamath County Sheriff's Office, which is currently conducting an investigation concerning any violations which may have occurred in their jurisdiction in Klamath County. The Klamath County Sheriff's Office also has the dogs/crates listed as stolen property.The two male dogs were made permanently identifiable before being sold. Each dog was implanted with an American Veterinary Identification Device.On Sept. 23, a search warrant was executed on the kennel and adjacent residence located at 974 Pohopoco Drive. Upon De La Iglesia's arrival, the defendant identified herself as Patricia Gadaleta, and denied the dogs ever being on the property.During the search, De La Iglesia located the stolen male chocolate Labrador. The AVID number was confirmed with an AVID chip reader. Upon discovering the first dog, the defendant showed De La Iglesia the second stolen dog, where the AVID number was confirmed with an AVID chip reader. The defendant also directed De LA Iglesia to the two stolen crates which were located in her vehicle.Also during the execution of the search warrant documentation linking the defendant with the victim was discovered, including three FedEx US airbills from a Meg Kipler to Conway. These three FedEx US airbills are consistent with the three FedEx US packages previously mentioned for the shipment of payment checks. A printed email correspondence between a person identified as Meg and the victim was also discovered.A check deposit for an FCU account was also discovered at Gadaleta's residence. The account holder listed on this check was Anthony Gadaleta. This account number is consistent with the non-sufficient funds checks issued to the victim.Shipping documentation for the shipment of the dogs was also discovered at the residence.The evidence discovered during this search was seized by PSP Lehighton, and was entered into property.Last month, another round of charges for deceptive and fraudulent business practices were filed against Gadaleta after state police said she purchased a Labrador Retriever from Michelle Marie Veucasovic of Michigan, the owner of Infinity Labradors.She used an alias name to order the show dog, which was restricted from breeding, from Veucasovic. At the time, Gadaleta ordered the dog as a private buyer, but then kept the animal in her commercial dog breeding kennel as breeding stock.Troopers state that the dog was voluntarily surrendered by Gadaleta to the SCPA and its identity was confirmed through the microchip identification system.On Sept. 29, Gadaleta was charged with theft by deception and deceptive business practices after troopers received a complaint from Sharene Greer Clark and Dan Clark of California.They also sold Gadaleta a show dog, believing she was a private buyer. Payment was never received for the animal.A second search of Gadaleta's property was conducted and the stolen dog was found and identified.Since Gadaleta's arrest, the Carbon County Animal Response Team had been on scene caring for the purebred dogs. All dogs were removed the property earlier this month and taken to rescue shelters, where they were cared for and put up for adoption.More information on where a person can go to adopt one of the 101 Labs removed from Gadaleta's property can be found on the Carbon County Friends of Animals website at

http://www.ccfoa.info.