Just Pups Hearing Cancelled, Owner Not Reopening Paramus Store

PARAMUS, N.J. — A Board of Health hearing regarding Vincent LoSacco’s license to run a pet store in the borough was cancelled Monday because LoSacco has opted not to reopen the Route 17 store.

LoSacco said he and the landlord mutually agreed that he wouldn’t renew his contract to keep his Just Pups store at 155 Route 17. He said the license issued by the borough is tied to the location so if he was not planning on staying in business there, there was no point of holding the hearing.

“At this point, I’m just going to stay with the two stores,” LoSscco said. “I’m going to regroup" and focus on the 134 charges of animal cruelty filed against him.

The hearing was scheduled due to the 67 puppies that police found in a van outside the store early in the morning last month. Some of the dogs were crammed three or four to a cage and couldn’t stand up, police said, and some were covered in urine and feces.

Authorities said LoSacco’s brother Leonard drove the dogs from LoSacco’s puppy farm in Missiouri and left the dogs in the van. It was 38 degrees inside the van when the police found the dogs.

LoSacco and his brother were each charged with 134 counts of animal cruelty. They will be arraigned May 10.

LoSacco also faces 267 counts of animal cruelty from the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after three dead dogs were found inside a freezer in the Just Pups East Brunswick store. Local officials shut the store down shortly after the dogs were discovered.

LoSacco two remaining Just Pups stores are in Emerson and East Hanover.

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Vincent LoSacco — YouTube video screenshot