Posted: October 17, 2008, 5 a.m. EDT
A dog kennel in Lancaster County, Pa., faces permanent closure and more than $4 million in fines on the kennel owners for alleged advertising violations.
CC Pets owners Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus, of Peach Bottom, Lancaster County, were unavailable for comment Thursday. The business, formerly run under the name Puppy Love, has a history of legal problems with Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office dating back to 1997.
Corbett said that attorneys in his Bureau of Consumer Protection filed a contempt petition in Commonwealth Court against the kennel and the owners. He said that a settlement agreement three years ago banned the owners from placing classified ads that did not specifically name their business.
According to Corbett, they placed 884 classified ads in print or online in newspapers in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Allentown, and Carlisle that did not identify the kennel by name. Each violation carries a maximum fine of $5,000.
“There is no room in Pennsylvania for dog breeders who regularly deceive consumers, repeatedly violate the law, and willfully ignore previous legal actions by the Attorney General’s Office,” Corbett said. “The continued operation of CC Pets is an attack on our consumer protection laws, an insult to the many legitimate dog breeders and sellers across the state, and we are asking the court to move quickly to close this business permanently.”