Fancy Pups Owner From Bridgewater Postpones Court Date

By CARLY BALDWIN (Patch Staff)

Woodbridge, NJ - Rocco Garruto, Jr., the Fancy Pups owner accused of keeping dogs without water and in urine- and excrement-covered newspapers, postponed his scheduled court hearing today due to an illness, a township spokesman tells Patch.

“The court received a letter from Garutto’s doctor advising that he (Garutto) was unable to appear due to medical conditions,” said Woodbridge township spokesman John Hagerty.

Garutto was due in court today after he was arrested Sunday for allegedly violating a restraining order served by the New Jersey SPCA. The restraining order barred Garutto from selling any more puppies out of his Avenel store, Fancy Pups. That’s because a Dec. 8 health inspection of Fancy Pups allegedly found Garutto was keeping puppies in newspapers soaked with their own urine and excrement, and denying the dogs water. Three of the puppies at Fancy Pups were found to be ill that day as well, officials said.

In total, Garutto and his store employees were slapped with 110 violations on Dec. 8. After that inspection, Garutto promised Woodbridge Animal Control officers he would not to sell any more dogs until all the animals were cleared by a vet.

Instead, he kept the shop open for business, Hagerty said, and so on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, Fancy Pups was raided by the state SPCA.

Ten dogs were taken from the store in the raid, and nearly all required immediate medical care, officials said. Fancy Pups was shut down by the state, and Garutto was served the restraining order barring him from ”the sale, purchase, receipt and transfer of all dogs until further Order of the Court,” according to the legal document, which Patch has a copy of.

However, Garutto then allegedly took three of the remaining dogs to his auto body shop, Crystal Auto Sales, where he may have been trying to sell them there, Hagerty said. Regardless, for Garutto to even transport any animals was in direct violation of his restraining order, Woodbridge Health Director Dennis Green told Patch. Garutto was arrested Dec. 27 in front of Crystal Auto Sales.

Fancy Pups remains closed, and now Woodbridge officials say they want it shut down for good.

Fancy Pups’ license expires at the end of this month, and Woodbridge Township has decided not to renew it, Hagerty confirmed to Patch. The township health department will ask a municipal judge to support that decision, he said.

In another update, after Patch published the story of conditions at Fancy Pups, State Senator Raymond Lesniak announced he will introduce an aggressive new bill to prohibit the sale of pets from “puppy mills” in New Jersey.

A new court date for Garruto has not be scheduled. Stay tuned to Patch for more updates.