Former Acton Dog Trainer Sentenced To 15 ½ Years For Animal Cruelty

Posted by: Jade Aubuchon in Crime, Santa Clarita Latest News May 30, 2025 - 10:19 am 1 Comment 8,441 Views

A former Acton dog trainer, once touted for his focus on “positive reinforcement,” has been sentenced to over 15 years in Ohio prison for a series of crimes that have led to the deaths of at least 36 animals.

In March, Steffen Baldwin, 44, was sentenced to 15 ½ years in Ohio state prison on 32 of 39 felony charges, including animal cruelty, grand theft, bribery, fraud, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. This is the longest sentence for animal cruelty crimes in state history.

Steffen Baldwin. Photo courtesy of Save Them Dogs.

Baldwin, (also known as Steffen Finklestein until October 2004), was arrested in 2020 at his Acton rescue “Save Them Dog Training” for a pattern of criminal behavior that included taking money with promises of rehabilitating or rehoming dogs with behavioral issues, only to keep the funds for his personal use and euthanize the animals without permission.

Court documents stated that Baldwin “did negligently, needlessly kill” several dogs, with Ohio detectives involved in the case alleging that at least 36 animals had been killed while under Baldwin’s care. Several more animals under his care remain unaccounted for.

Steffen Baldwin with Remi. Photo courtesy of Facebook

Baldwin’s extensive crimes came to light after an investigation was launched in June 2017, when Litsa Kargakos of No Fear Rescue gave Baldwin $1,000 and entrusted the trainer with one of her rescues, a pitbull named Remington, affectionately known as “Remi.” Instead of helping rehabilitate the dog, Baldwin had Remi euthanized without Kargakos’s knowledge, then covered up the crime for several months.

According to Kargakos, Baldwin claimed that Remi had been put down after an alleged fight with another dog also under Baldwin’s watch. Kargakos was later able to prove that no fight had taken place.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

It was these actions that led to a criminal investigation that crossed state lines, uncovering multiple instances of fraud, animal abuse, and deception relating to his rescue work.

“During this three-year battle, Remi’s story fell on a lot of deaf ears, but it also fell on a lot of right ears. In the end, the right ears were the only ears that mattered,” she told KHTS in 2020 when Baldwin was first arrested. “Never give up, just remember you only need to find one right person to hear your story and who is willing to see justice served.”

Photo courtesy of UCSO.

Investigators in the animal abuse case have also stated that Baldwin has connections to multiple cases of women who are now missing or dead.

Officer Jim Conroy with the Campbell Police Department, the man who worked on the animal abuse case for the last four years, told The Vindicator that other jurisdictions have reached out with information linking Baldwin to several investigations involving missing or dead women, some of whom were his former romantic partners.

The disappearance of Maura Murray, 21, on Feb.9, 2004, is arguably one of the most famous modern missing person cases in America.

Conroy told The Vindicator that when Baldwin was first arrested in the abuse case in 2020, the New Hampshire State Police and FBI reached out to find out why Baldwin’s fingerprints were found on an item in Murray’s car. According to work by crime journalist James Renner, who has closely followed the Murray case, Murray and Finklestein/Baldwin had previously been linked romantically whilst they attended West Point Academy. It should be mentioned that the Murray family and Renner have had a strained relationship over the course of his coverage of the case.

Baldwin (then Finkelstein) had even been a student representative for Murray during a disciplinary hearing before she left the school. Neither Murray nor Baldwin graduated from West Point, leaving the school within a week of each other, according to Renner.

A long-standing rumour claims that in the days leading up to her disappearance, Murray encountered a man named Stefan or Stefano at a party with friends, according to Renner. Murray’s disappearance remains under investigation.

Two more of Baldwin’s former girlfriends have also died of unnatural causes.

Baldwin’s former nonprofit partner, Shelby Grabor, 24, died in a head-on crash on April 8, 2016, after driving into the wrong lane on Interstate 270 in West Columbus. Baldwin had recently broken up with Grabor with false claims that a potential Lionsgate television deal hinged on his being single, according to Officer Conroy.

Baldwin reportedly began dating another woman immediately after the breakup, according to Conroy. That woman, Amanda Walton, worked at Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge in Pennsylvania when she met Baldwin. In May 2016, Walton took a dog named Mozart to Ohio to join Baldwin and another dog he had adopted from Blue Chip, Gucci.

She returned to Pennsylvania in August 2016, traumatized by what had occurred during her relationship with Baldwin, said Emma Ripka, Walton’s friend and mentor at Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge.

“She told us about the lies Steffen told her and some of the abuse she endured from him, but would not go into full detail on anything else,” Ripka testified in court. “She seemed afraid to speak about anything else.”

Baldwin euthanized Gucci on Oct. 10, 2016. Mozart’s fate remains undetermined.

Ripka told the court that in the time Baldwin and Walton had been together, Walton had relapsed on her 5-year sobriety. Walton died Nov. 3, 2018, of an overdose, according to Conroy.

Finally, Baldwin’s mother, Barbara Baldwin, long estranged from the rest of the family, has not been seen since 2008, according to Conroy.

In total, at least two missing women and two women dead from unnatural causes had been found to have close connections to Baldwin, raising concerns among investigators considering his proven track record of cruelty and killing of animals.