TB Investigates

Falco K9 Owner Tyler Falconer Charged With Animal Cruelty After Turtleboy Investigation Revealing Widespread Abuse, WCVB Forced To Admit Katie Thompson Is Married To Him 

Aidan KearneyMay 11, 2023

 

In March we published an investigative story about Falco K9, a dog training facility owned and operated by Burlington firefighter Tyler Falconer. Before and after pictures of emaciated dogs, testimonials from former employees, and countless online reviews caused Falco K9 to shut down days later, and Falconer was placed on paid leave as a firefighter. Even more concerning was the fact that Falconer’s wife, WCVB Eye Opener reporter Katie Thompson Falconer, called the police on Turtleboy for reporting about it, tried to get people fired for speaking negatively about Falco K9, and threatened random people who posted about our reporting on Facebook.

Prior to our reporting on the matter people had been complaining about Falco K9 for years, but it wasn’t until we exposed it on our platform that anything was done about it. Katie Thompson works in the media, and would certainly be able to influence WCVB and other stations from investigating and reporting on the credible allegations of animal abuse. As a result critics were able to dismiss our reporting as fake news, unsubstantiated by any “real news” outlets.

But last week, as a direct result of our reporting, Falconer was charged in South Boston District Court with 5 counts, including felony animal cruelty, and misdemeanor dog tethering/confining violation.

The tethering law states that:

A tethering employed shall not allow the dog to leave the owner’s, guardian’s or keeper’s property. The tether shall be designed for dogs and no logging chains or other lines or devices not designed for tethering dogs shall be used. No chain or tether shall weigh more than ⅛ of the dog’s body weight.

It was alleged by former employees that they used chains that violated this law.

WCVB ironically reported on this story today, and actually admitted that one of their star employees is married to Falconer.

You can tell her veteran coworker Maria Stephanos is disgusted by Thompson’s involvement because she made a point to mention her.

 

“We were unable to reach Falconer or his attorney, he is the husband of News Center 5 Eye Opener Traffic Anchor Katie Thompson.”

If WCVB needs to reach Tyler Falconer all they have to do is ask their employee how to reach him. Clearly she is not cooperating and Maria Stephanos was not going to hold her tongue. Stephanos is an old school, experienced reporter, who saw the Turtleboy reporting and is likely ashamed that her employer was destroying their reputation by ignoring this. It made everyone at WCVB look bad.

Katie Thompson Falconer is not just Tyler’s wife, she’s his co-conspirator. She, more than anyone, worked behind the scenes to silence the voices of people who were trying to advocate for their voiceless animals. She tried to get a woman charged with felony wiretapping and had the Plymouth Police question me about it, after baselessly alleging that the vocal former client had secretly recorded a phone call in which Thompson used her unborn son in an attempt to censor the woman.

 

WCVB was well aware of the Falco K9 story but chose not to report on it until after the charges were filed in court and they could no longer pretend it wasn’t real. Their report states that the charges were filed after customers said their dogs were abused, and that “5 Investigates” obtained the court documents proving it.

But those are bother lies.

  1. Customers had been complaining about Falco K9 for years. There were dozens of legitimate online complaints airing similar grievances. A sham investigation by the ARL cleared Falco K9 of any wrongdoing, and business as usual went on. It wasn’t until days after we reported on it that Falco K9 closed down, and police and the Suffolk County DA’s Office began to investigate. This NEVER happens without our reporting, and it’s not just me tooting my own horn. It’s an undeniable fact.
  2. “5 Investigates” didn’t investigate anything. They did what all corporate controlled media entities train their reporters to do – blindly regurgitate court filings and police press releases. They didn’t speak with any employees or customers like we did. They ignored them! We’ve seen emails and messages sent by customers to WCVB that never received a reply. Their posts on social media were flooded with comments about our reporting and links to our blog. They saw all this and chose to remain silent until it became public record.

Katie Thompson was not on the air this morning, and it must be awkward for her going into work. She was tweeting about traffic in Haverhill like nothing happened though.

Is there anyone more obsolete in the digital era than a traffic reporter? She could be replaced with an iPhone.  Then again I think it’s plainly obvious to anyone who looks at Katie Thompson to realize she wasn’t hired because of her journalism skills.

Blogs like this are what makes what I do every day worth it. A person doing bad things was getting away with it for years, but now he’s finally being held responsible. We will keep you posted with any new developments about this disturbing story.

 

 

 

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Aidan KearneyMay 11, 2023