Pair Charged With Abuse of Puppies

Two Dana Point men charged with animal abuse and neglect who were allegedly selling sick puppies to unsuspecting pet lovers agreed Monday to give up their remaining animals for adoption, authorities said.

Mark Bock, 36, and Jeffrey Worley, 37, who called their business Pearlie’s House of Pomeranians, also pleaded not guilty Monday in a Laguna Niguel courtroom. They each are charged with 50 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse and neglect. They are free on $25,000 bail each.

Police found 39 sickly Pomeranian puppies at the home when they served a search warrant last month, prosecutors said.

They also found two dead puppies in a freezer, prosecutors said. The men were storing the animals in order to return them to a breeder for credit, prosecutors said.

The animals were kept in playpens in a hidden room in the attic, authorities said. Many of the puppies, ranging in age from 6 weeks to 4 months, were suffering from respiratory problems and parasites.

Their attorney, Jeffrey Benice, said Monday that the charges were false and that the animals became ill after leaving Bock and Worley’s house.

The pair agreed to relinquish 35 dogs for adoption. One of the animals died after being picked up, another belonged to the two men, a third to a veterinarian, and one had been sold before the search warrant, said Rick Gilliland, general manager of Coastal Animal Services Authority in San Clemente.

The puppies were transferred to the San Clemente facility.

“If you have one dog that’s sick, and if he’s in a pen with a bunch of other puppies, it spreads like wildfire,” Gilliland said. “It looked a little bit shaky there for a while, but they’re all healthy now.”

They will be ready for adoption in a week, he said. Applications will be available at www.petprojectfoundation.org.

At least three people had complained that puppies they purchased from the pair had serious medical problems, according to prosecutors.

One buyer said she paid $6,700 for a puppy, only to find that the dog had a hole in its heart and was suffering from pneumonia. The puppy died within 10 days. Bock and Worley threatened to sue her if she stopped payment on her check, prosecutors said.

“It’s an extremely profitable and lucrative business,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. spokeswoman Susan Schroeder. The dogs sell for $800 to $8,000 apiece, she said.

Bock and Worley could not be reached for comment, but their website boasts the pair “developed a healthy respect for the dignity and love all animals deserve.”