SAVE THE DATE: December 12, 2012 9:00am. Litchfield Town Green. This is the date and place where Fred Acker will begin his trial for 62 counts of felony animal cruelty.
For anyone who is not aware of Fred Acker or read my first blog, he has been in the dog placement business, in lower Fairfield County for approximately 20 years. He goes under the name of SPCA of Connecticut and his logo looks almost identical to the logo of the ASPCA of New york. He is not now nor has he ever been associated with the ASPCA, which has been in business in New York for over 145 years. ASPCA stands for Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Over the past 13 years, Acker's business has been located in Monroe, CT and over the years he has been cited by local and State animal control for various infractions of State Laws pertaining to animals. He obtains dogs from "puppy mills" down South at very small fees, has them shipped to Connecticut, and sells them for $395.00 per dog. He has bragged to Channel 8 News that he has "placed" 360 dogs during one three day period when he actually sold these dogs to unsuspecting people and collected over $100,000.00 in fees. The amounts of money he has made during this 13 year period must be mind boggling.
Due to presure from local and State animal control, Acker recently moved his "business" to Bethlehem CT, where he is renovating a barn to be used to house the dogs he has obtained for sale.
On Oct. 11, the Bethlehem Animal Control Officer (ACO) received a complaint regarding a dog that had escaped from this building. The dog was later found dead on the highway. While investigating Acker, the ACO found several discrepancies in the information and paper work that Acker produced, vet info, rabies certificates, etc. At that time there were 76 dogs, in crates, in the barn. The Officer issued verbal warnings to Acker that the conditions in the barn needed to be improved or he would be cited for multiple violations.
On Nov. 8, after determining that the conditions had not been improved and obtaining a warrant to enter the property, the Officer went to the barn, found no improvements had been made, and with only a small heater to warm the entire barn, checked the room temperature which she found to be 30 degrees fahrenheit. At that point she placed Mr. Acker under arrest, read him his Miranda rights, and with the assist of a State trooper, took Acker into custody.
Over all these years Acker has bilked probably hundreds if not thousands of unknowing people of hundreds of thousands of dollars by misrepresenting the quality and health of these dogs, and never making refunds for any reason.
I would like for all people who care for animals to make a statement on December 12 at the Litchfield Green, across from the courthouse, (Litchfield Judicial District Superior Court, 15 West Street, Litchfield, CT 06759. Directions) and picket and demonstrate that this man cannot be allowed to walk away with a slap on the wrist, a suspended sentence and community service. A true community service would be to put him and others like him out of business. State Law provides $5,000.00 fines and/or 5 years in prison for each count of felony animal cruelty. In Acker's case, he would be facing $310,000.00 in fines and 310 years in prison.
The only person in the United States, who has gone to prison for animal cruelty was Michael Vick. Let's let the prosecutors and the judge in this case know that animal cruelty is not a minor offense.
See you in Litchfield Dec. 12, 9:00am. Please bring your own signs!!
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