Woodbridge health officials will not renew the license for an Avenel pet shop owner to sell animals.
WOODBRIDGE -- Health officials will not renew the license for an Avenel pet shop owner, charged with abusing and neglecting dogs, to sell animals.
Woodbridge Township health officials won't renew the license for the owners of Fancy Pups pet store in Avenel to sell animals. (Photo provided) John Hagerty, a spokesman for Woodbridge Township, said the township health department, will not issue Rocco Garruto a new license to sell animals at Fancy Pups on Saint Georges Avenue. His current license expires Thursday.
"He can keep his shop open," Hagerty said. "He just can't sell animals."
Hagerty also denied that Woodbridge police abused Garruto when he was arrested Sunday after he was charged with scores of counts of animal abuse and neglect.
He said police followed standard operating procedure in processing Garruto, denying the claims made by Garruto Tuesday.
Garruto told NJ Advance Media "they (police) shackled me to a pipe for four hours" and gave him "no food, no water, no supervision, no shelter, and no care."
Garruto was supposed to appear in municipal court on his animal abuse charges Wednesday evening, but obtained a medical doctor's letter stating that he was unable to attend. The hearing was postponed, Hagerty said.
Hagerty said it is "standard procedure" to handcuff an individual arrested to a bench while being processed.
"Mr. Garruto was processed in the normal way," he said. "He was not denied any of the services."
Garruto said he has been in medical treatment for anxiety and high blood pressure since the ordeal began with an inspection at Fancy Pups on Dec. 8, 2015.
The New Jersey Society for the Protection of Animals said that Garruto kept dogs in squalid cages, covered in feces and urine without access to water. On Christmas Eve, authorities said they learned that Garruto was continuing to sell dogs, even after a quarantine order stemming from the Dec. 8 inspection. A stronger court order went into effect on Christmas Eve. But Garruto kept selling dogs and was arrested, the authorities said.
But Garruto said he's the victim of overzealous authorities who made things personal and wanted to shut down his shop because they don't like pet shops at all.
He denied buying dogs from puppy mills, claiming he only bought them from reputable breeders.
The dogs the township and NJSPCA police found on Sunday at an auto dealership--allegedly for sale, leading to a contempt of court charge and his arrest--belonged to Garruto himself, he said.
A Toms River woman sued Garruto in Middlesex County after she bought a puppy for her child in 2011 and the puppy died nearly two weeks later. The case settled in 2013.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
