Pet Store Owner Accused Of Animal Cruelty

LYNWOOD, Calif. -- A 26-count indictment unsealed Monday alleges that a Lynwood pet store owner suffocated one dog and choked another, threw a kitten against a pole and taped canines to an operating table, among other acts of animal cruelty.

Young Sam Park, also known as Sam Young Park, 52, pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon to the charges during his first appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

The indictment, handed up last Friday by a Los Angeles County grand jury, includes 22 felony counts of cruelty to an animal and one felony count of possession of pentobarbital, along with three misdemeanor counts of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. The indictment stemmed from an investigation by the district attorney's Bureau of Investigation and Los Angeles County Animal Control following complaints to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles, about the owner/operator of the Animal House Pet Store.

The business' status is unclear, but the telephone number has been disconnnected.

"These were people's pets," said Sandi Gibbons of the district attorney's office. "It's alleged that he held himself out to be a veterinarian."

The 10-page indictment alleges that Park "threw sick cats in the Dumpster"; "suffocated a Chihuahua with a rubber glove"; "used (a) rubber glove on muzzle to suffocate dogs and cats"; "threw a kitten against (a) 4 X 4 support pole"; and "taped dogs down to the operating table."

The indictment also alleges that Park clipped animals' ears and tails without anesthesia, used dirty and unsanitized tools, used wire to "stitch a pit bull," and used fishing line to stitch wounds and concrete and plaster to cast limbs.

Along with dogs and cats, a guinea pig and rats are also named in the animal cruelty counts, which allege the crimes occurred between June 2004 and May 2007.

Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen ordered Park to remain jailed on $451,500 bail pending an appearance Tuesday in Compton Superior Court.

If convicted as charged, Park is facing a maximum of 22 years in state prison, according to Gibbons.

source: www.knbc.com