Just Pups Owner Pleads Not Guilty To 134 Animal Cruelty Charges

The owner of the dwindling chain of Just Pups pet shops plead not guilty in court Tuesday to 134 charges of animal cruelty.

LoSacco, 50, and his brother, Leonard, were charged after police found 67 puppies in a van outside the Paramus Just Pups store early one morning. Police said the dogs were covered in urine and feces and many were packed into cages too small for them to stand up in. The temperate inside the van was only 38 degrees, just a few degrees warmer than the outside temperature.

LoSacco and his brother were charged after the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the incident.

“I plead not guilty not as a matter of formality, but because I’m 100 percent certain I didn’t do anything wrong,” LoSacco said. “I’m very much looking forward to defending myself.”

Arraignment in the case was adjourned Tuesday for two weeks for discovery purposes.

Leonard LoSacco parked the van outside the store after returning from Missouri the night before. Vincent LoSacco owns a puppy breeding business there and regularly transports puppies in the van to New Jersey.

LoSacco denied any wrongdoing once knowledge of the puppies and van became known. He said that the crates were large enough to fit multiple dogs, they were given food and water. The van had a separate heater and the temperature only dropped when police opened the door to investigate what was inside the van.

A veterinarian was scheduled to look at the puppies just a few hours after police discovered the van at 3 a.m., he said.

LoSacco closed down the Parmus store recently and lost his license for the East Brunswick store in March after authorities charged him with 267 counts of animal cruelty. Three dead dogs were found in a freeze inside the business.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture issued multiple violations against the Just Pups business located there earlier this year, accusing the business of having unhealthy dogs to not maintaining proper health records and failing to have the proper paperwork on file for the puppies.

LoSacco only operates two Just Pups stores now: In Emerson and East Hanover.

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Some of the puppies found in the Just Pups van in March. — Paramus Police Department