Pa. kennel shut down for 6 months
HARRISBURG - A state judge yesterday ordered a Lancaster County kennel to close for six months and fined its owners $166,000 for repeatedly violating a four-year-old agreement with state authorities.
HARRISBURG - A state judge yesterday ordered a Lancaster County kennel to close for six months and fined its owners $166,000 for repeatedly violating a four-year-old agreement with state authorities.
Commonwealth Court Judge Barry F. Feudale called the business practices of Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus "clearly deceptive" and "underhanded."
But he fell short of permanently shuttering the couple's CC Pets L.L.C. of Peach Bottom, as the state Attorney General's Office had requested at a hearing Monday.
In 2005, the Stoltzfuses were the subject of a record state consumer-fraud settlement involving the sale of sick and defective dogs. They were fined $75,000 and required in their classified newspaper ads to state their name or that they are a licensed kennel.
The Attorney General's Office argued that the couple, whose kennel was previously known as Puppy Love, had placed hundreds of ads in newspapers throughout Pennsylvania, including The Inquirer, without meeting that requirement.
Feudale's order bars the Stoltzfuses, who had sold as many as 2,000 puppies a year, from breeding and selling dogs until October. He also assessed a fine of $200 for each of the 830 violations of the classified-ad agreement.
The Attorney General's Office had urged the maximum fine of $5,000 for each violation, or more than 4.1 million overall, but Feudale said that amount was excessive.
Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the attorney general, called the six-month shutdown appropriate.
"There is no room in Pennsylvania for dog breeders and kennel operators who deceive consumers and repeatedly violate the law and willfully ignore previous legal actions by the Attorney General's Office," Harley said.
It was unclear whether the Stoltzfuses will appeal the decision.
When told of the ruling, Joyce Stoltzfus referred questions to her attorney, Michael Winters. He did not respond to a request for comment.
