The former manager of a Waimanalo dog breeding facility that had all of its animals seized because of squalid conditions pleaded no contest in state court Tuesday to 153 counts of animal cruelty.
David Lee Becker, 55, faces a maximum one-year jail term and $2,000 fine for each of the 153 counts at sentencing.
The Hawaiian Humane Society will also ask the court to require Becker to repay the organization the $370,701 it spent to rescue the dogs and care for them before giving them out for adoption.
Circuit Judge Glenn Kim scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19.
He could have sentenced Becker on Tuesday because each of the charges is a misdemeanor, which does not require the court to do a presentence investigation and report. Becker and the prosecutor could have requested them, but both declined.
Becker entered his pleas without a plea agreement.
Prosecutor Janice Futa told Kim he should have required Becker to plead guilty instead of no contest.
“The defendant’s criminal conduct in this exploitation of these innocent animals solely for the purpose of pecuniary gain demands that he takes responsibility for his criminal actions,” Futa said.
Kim accepted the no-contest pleas.
“And I will point out now, and I may have more to say at the time of sentencing, these are, after all, misdemeanor offenses,” Kim said.
Becker remains in custody, unable to post $200,000 bail. He has been in custody since his extradition from Las Vegas in June.
He was charged in May 2011 but left Hawaii before investigators could serve him with a penal summons informing him of the charges.
The Humane Society seized 155 dogs from Bradley Hawaiian Puppies on Mahailua Street in February 2010. One of the dogs died at the facility, and another died during transport.
The state charged the owner of the facility, Bradley International Inc., with the same 153 animal cruelty charges to which Becker pleaded guilty Tuesday. The state later dropped the case after the company dissolved with no assets to satisfy any potential fine or restitution.
Animal advocates say Vernon Luke, former vice president and treasurer of Bradley, and his daughter, Sheryl Luke-Kalani, who owns the Mahailua Street property, opened another dog breeding facility in Mountain View on Hawaii island after the Humane Society seized all of the dogs from the Waimanalo facility.