Man Indicted In Dog's Beating Death Misses Court Due To Shoplifting Sentence: Prosecutor

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Seaside Heights man who is accused of killing a Bichon Frise dog in 2016 will be extradited from New York when he is released from a jail there later this month after serving a shoplifting sentence, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Nicholas Piccolino, 34, of Seaside Heights, was scheduled to appear in Ocean County court on April 10 for arraignment on a charge of third-degree animal cruelty in the death of Booshu, a 10-year-old Bichon Frise that died last August, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

Piccolino's attorney sought an adjournment because Piccolino is serving a 20-day sentence in New York City, Della Fave said, but Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney, at the request of Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Heidi Tannenbaum-Newman, issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition to Ocean County upon his release, with a bail set at $20,000, no 10 percent option, Della Fave said.

Piccolino has been indicted in the incident, which Della Fave said was reported to Seaside Heights police shortly before 10 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2016. Booshu’s owner alleged that Piccolino, who was alone with the dog in her kitchen, caused the dog’s death, Della Fave said.

An investigation by NJSPCA Detective Sgt. Larry Donato, with assistance from the Seaside Heights Police Department, determined that during Piccolino’s time alone with Booshu, a resident of the house upstairs heard several loud banging sounds and a dog yelping in the kitchen below, Della Fave said. Shortly after, Piccolino notified the dog’s owner that something was wrong with her dog. Booshu’s owner found the dog dead on the floor of the bathroom. Piccolino claimed that Booshu “dirtied” herself in her crate and that while he was cleaning her up, he dropped her, Della Fave said.

Booshu was taken to Red Bank Animal Hospital where she was pronounced dead upon arrival. A subsequent necropsy performed on Booshu by Dr. Shannon Swist of the NJ Animal Health Diagnostic Lab found that Booshu suffered multiple blunt force injuries to her head and body which contributed to her death, Della Fave said.

Tannenbaum-Newman approved third-degree charges of animal cruelty of torment, torture, unnecessarily or cruelly beating a living animal resulting in their death on Sept. 1, Della Fave said.

Photo provided by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office