NJ: Princeton dog trainer pleads not guilty to charges that he abused his own dogs

Princeton dog trainer pleads not guilty to charges that he abused his own dogs

By Brendan McGrath/The Times of Trenton
on July 13, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated July 13, 2013 at 7:03 AM

A Princeton dog trainer who allegedly killed one of his client’s dogs and beat two of his own was arraigned yesterday and could face up to nine years in prison if convicted.

Michael Rosenberg, 31, pleaded not guilty to abusing his dogs Kaiser and Stanford, and was ordered by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Mark Fleming not to have contact with any dogs until the case is resolved.

Rosenberg, who is out of jail on his own recognizance, has already entered a not guilty plea for other animal abuse charges in the death of another dog, and he could face five years in prison in that case, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie said.

Rosenberg was hired by Tracy Stanton of Lawrence last August to train her 3-year-old German shepherd mix, Shyanne.

After leaving Shyanne in Rosenberg’s care, Stanton received a call from the trainer suggesting that the dog needed to go to the vet, Stanton said previously. She made an appointment and called Rosenberg back to tell him, but he responded by saying that she needed to pick Shyanne up right away.

Stanton works in New York City, so she asked her boyfriend to pick Shyanne up. When he arrived at Rosenberg’s house, the dog was lying unresponsive but breathing on the front porch. Shyanne stopped breathing en route to North Star Emergency Vet Hospital in Robbinsville, Stanton said.

The results of a necropsy showed that Shyanne had four broken ribs and a punctured lung resulting from blunt-force trauma, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Rosenberg allegedly hit the dog with a crop whip, slammed it into the ground and poked its ribs.

After Stanton’s story came to light, a dog owner from Montgomery came forward alleging Rosenberg had beaten her bull terrier, Ziggy, at her home in Montgomery.

She hired Rosenberg to train Ziggy, but when the dog acted out in front of Rosenberg, he picked it up and slammed it down on a tile floor in her home, Princeton Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson said previously. When the dog continued to act this way, Rosenberg allegedly picked it up by the neck and hung it in the air.

In the past, Rosenberg’s attorney, James Wronko, has suggested that they would not accept a plea offer from the state, and would take the case to trial. Yesterday, he did not indicate how they would react to the plea, except that they would first have to examine the photographs from Shyanne’s necropsy.

“We’re going to have those photographs looked at by someone with expertise in the area,” Wronko said.

Prosecutors have offered Rosenberg a five-year plea deal for allegedly killing Shyanne and an 18-month plea deal for his alleged abuse of Kaiser and Stanford. The deals would run consecutively, Galuchie said.

If found guilty on any of these charges, however, Rosenberg will also have to serve a four-year sentence that he received in 2011 on child endangerment charges for engaging in sexual activity with a juvenile, Galuchie said. This would run consecutive to the five-year sentence the prosecution is suggesting for the current charges, bring the total number of years he could serve in prison to nine. He would, however, be eligible for early release.

Princeton dog trainer pleads not guilty to charges that he abused his own dogs | NJ.com