LI Man Who Killed 2 Puppies, Maimed Another, Gets A Year In Prison

MINEOLA, NY — A Mineola man who pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals will get a year in prison after prosecutors say he killed two puppies and nearly killed a third, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Ellie Knoller, 32, will also receive five years of probation and is banned for 50 years from owning animals. The maximum possible sentence for his conviction was two years in jail, prosecutors said.

Knoller killed the two puppies and nearly killed a third in February 2019, prosecutors said.

According to a statement from the Nassau County's District Attorney's office, Knoller adopted a Shepherd mix puppy from a shelter who was around 10 weeks old in February 2019. A little over a week later, the puppy, named Tucker, died of a kidney rupture. Knoller inflicted fatal blunt force trauma on Tucker.

That same month, Knoller bought a Goldendoodle named Cooper from a breeder and two days later Cooper died from a lacerated liver, caused by blunt force trauma again inflicted by Knoller.

Also that month, Knoller brought "a lethargic and lifeless" 11-week-old female brown Goldendoodle puppy, named Bella, to Veterinary Referral & Emergency Center of Westbury, prosecutors said.

Bella had broken ribs, bruised lungs, bleeding behind her eyes and a broken leg. She needed surgery, and eventually had a leg amputated.

“Three defenseless puppies were subjected to extraordinary violence by this defendant,” Anne Donnelly, the Nassau County district attorney, said in a statement.

"The internal injuries these animals sustained are uncommon – even in animal abuse cases – and are consistent with terrifying blunt force trauma," she said. "This case stands apart in the decades of animal crimes this office has prosecuted as one of the worst we’ve seen."

Donnelly called for stricter animal abuse laws in light of the case.

Bella survived and has since been adopted by a family on Long Island.