It's true: you can't teach an old dog seller new tricks.
One of America's most notorious sellers of puppy mill dogs was back in a South Florida courtroom Wednesday to face allegations that he's once again selling the pooches illegally.
Jim Anderson, former owner of Wizard of Claws pet store in Tamarac, appeared before Broward County Judge Richard Rosenberg and admitted he'd been selling dogs again, despite agreeing to a court order not to sell dogs illegally.
"I am telling you not to transact or sell any puppies. Don't do it!" Rosenberg sternly told Anderson during yesterday's appearance.
Anderson and wife Gilda became the subject of an NBCMiami investigation after it was discovered that many dogs from the puppy mills where the Andersons were getting them were becoming sick and sometimes dying.
Because of public outcry, they went bankrupt and signed an order in February effectively shutting them down for at least a decade unless they met extraordinarily stringent guidelines.
One of those requirements was reporting to the Attorney General on a monthly basis. A requirement that attorney Christine Duruelle said they violated.
"For six months, they were engaged in this enterprise and did not report to the Attorney General," Duruelle said.
Local
It turns out Jim and Gilda Anderson moved to the Stonebrook Estates in Davie, where they ran their dog business from their $2 million house.
The Anderson home currently has roughly 43 dogs inside, living in cages. Court-appointed investigators looked into the health of the dogs, but did not remove any.
It's unclear whether the dozens of dogs in the home violates Davie zoning codes.
But Anderson didn't actually sell the dogs from his house. Instead, he found a third person at an apartment in Pembroke Pines where the actual sale was made. No one answered the door at the home Wednesday.
Anderson had few words after the courtroom appearance yesterday. When asked if he violated the settlement agreement, he replied, "No, I didn't."
Duruelle begs to differ.
"It actually surprised me that he showed up at all," she said. "I think it's pretty clear from the face of the contracts that they're using that they're in violation of the Puppy Lemon Law."
On May 20, the judge will decide whether Anderson violated the agreement, and if so, whether he should face jail time.
