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Emerson Officials Ask Judge To Order Unlicensed Pet Shop Closed

EMERSON, N.J. -- A judge in Hackensack on Friday will hear a request by Emerson officials that she immediately order closed a pet shop whose owner kept it open after his license expired last week, Mayor Louis Lamatina told Daily Voice.

At the store on Friday.

At the store on Friday.

Photo Credit: PHOTO: Robike Noll
At the Just Pups store in Emerson on Saturday.

At the Just Pups store in Emerson on Saturday.

Photo Credit: PHOTO: Robike Noll

Vincent LoSacco's license expired on June 30, but his Just Pups store remained open for business through Thursday.

On Wednesday, he sued the borough, demanding that a judge order its clerk to issue a pet shop license.

Borough officials responded to the complaint -- and sought a temporary injunction from Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia ordering the shop closed immediately.

Protestors continued to show up at the Kinderkamack Road shop last weekend, as they have the past few months.

Police and borough officials also went there last Friday to remind LoSacco, of Emerson, that he couldn't sell any more dogs at that location -- where an estimated 44 remained.

"An hour after they left the lights went on, and the sign was 'open'," said activist Robike Noll of Westwood. "People went in and out of the establishment all day."

A total of 134 charges of animal cruelty filed by the Bergen County SPCA are still pending against LoSacco and his brother, Leonard, for an incident at a since-closed shop in Paramus.

LoSacco surrendered his license there after Paramus police found 67 dogs crated overnight in a van outside the shop.

He already was facing 267 animal cruelty charges filed against him in March by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after three dead dogs were recovered from a freezer of his East Brunswick store.

LoSacco cleared out the Paramus location and moved the remaining dogs there to Emerson -- where he offered them for sale at half price -- and into the hands of a local animal rescue organization.

Emerson last month became the first town in Bergen County to ban the sale of puppy mill dogs. East Rutherford, Glen Rock and Paramus have since taken steps toward doing the same.

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