Owner Of Bergen Puppy Store Hit With 267 Animal Cruelty Violations

By Carly Baldwin
Staff Writer

PARAMUS, NJ - The owner of a Bergen County puppy store is in hot water after he was hit with 267 animal cruelty violations after authorities found three dead puppies in a freezer in an East Brunswick store he owns.

Officers with the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) filed animal cruelty charges Monday against Vincent LoSacco, the owner of four Just Pups stores in North Jersey, including one in Paramus.

The charges are only related to the New Brunswick store, but officials are expanding their investigation to other the stores LoSacco owns after receiving complaints, said Matt Stanton, an NJSPCA spokesperson.

Stanton said the agency will expand its investigation based on complaints received regarding puppies purchased the other stores LoSacco owns.

Inspectors said LoSacco failed to prevent disease from spreading in his store, mixed sick dogs with healthy ones, and denied the puppies food and fresh water.

The charges carry fines up to $100,000, and Steve Shatkin, the NJSPCA president, has said publicly that more charges related to LoSacco’s other stores are “highly likely.”

“Me and all my employees are totally innocent of all these allegations. And that’s all they are — allegations,” LoSacco told East Brunswick Patch in an interview Tuesday.

LoSacco said he didn’t even know his staff was keeping dead animals there.

“When the inspector found them, we were just as shocked as her,” he told Patch. “We never even look in that thing. It could have been in there for eight months, a year.”

“There were three dead dogs in a freezer because that’s where we’re supposed to keep them,” he added. “There are 100 dogs in the store at any time. We don’t know how long they were in there. Whoever put them in there didn’t inform the manager or myself.”

By rough speculation, LoSacco said he purchases about 300 puppies a month for his four stores. He also owns stores in East Hanover and Emerson. He said he could not speculate on how many of those puppies die, however.