Just Pups owner agrees to close Emerson store, report says

Less than a week after a Superior Court judge denied the borough of Emerson’s bid to immediately shut down the controversial pet store Just Pups for operating without a license, the owner of the business said he will keep the store closed.

Vincent LoSacco agreed to permanently close the Emerson Just Pups store after the borough council voted against renewing his business license following a nearly six-hour long hearing Wednesday, the Daily Voice reported. LoSacco's announcement was met with applause by those in attendance at the meeting, the article states.

The owner also said he planned to drop a lawsuit against the borough. LoSacco and his attorney, Anthony Arturi, alleged that the borough does not have ordinance regulating pet shops. They also claim the store owner was being harassed by the borough and a health official even visited his store hours before Tuesday's meeting, according to The Daily Record.

LoSacco’s license to operate the Emerson Just Pups store expired June 30. Since July 1, police in the borough have been giving LoSacco two summonses a day for operating without a license. The owner told NJ 101.5 last week that the license application and paperwork had been submitted in a timely fashion, so his attorney had initially advised him to keep the shop open.

In addition to the Emerson location, LoSacco’s Just Pups store in East Brunswick closed down earlier this year after he was charged with 267 counts of animal cruelty. Officials from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals claims healthy dogs were being kept with sick ones at that location. The remains of three dead dogs were also found in a freezer at that location, officials said.

In April, the Just Pups store in Paramus was forced to close after LoSacco and his brother were charged with 134 counts of animal cruelty, after police located a van in which several dogs were left unattended in near-freezing temperatures. Still, the owner insisted he did nothing wrong and that the conditions inside the van were adequate. Those puppies were later put up for adoption.

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.