In the pound
Derbe Eckhart is in the doghouse.
A Pennsylvania judge has denied the former kennel owner’s request for parole after he assaulted a prison guard while serving his sentence for animal cruelty.
The Morning Call of Allentown reports that last month’s parole request by Eckhart was turned down. According to court records, Eckhart’s “assaultive conduct” stood in the way.
A jury convicted the 43-year-old Eckhart in March of animal cruelty and violating an order barring him from taking new dogs into his Almost Heaven kennel. He pleaded guilty in July to punching a guard in the stomach four days into his sentence.
Eckhart was sentenced to six to 23 months in prison on the kennel charges and ordered to pay more than 160 thousand dollars in penalties stemming from a raid on the property last year.
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