A New Holland man will face eight charges in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas alleging he killed four dogs because they weren’t selling in October 2023.

John S. Stoltzfus Jr., 46 of the 600 block of Hollander Road, waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Jonathan Heisse on four counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and four counts of cruelty to animals.

On October 31, 2023, the Lancaster County Detectives received a call from the New Holland Police Department regarding the death of four black Sheepadoodle puppies named Tammy, Terry, Todd, and Tom.

New Holland Police received a complaint from an employee at Greenfield Puppies, which received a call from Stoltzfus asking to take the four puppies off their website and stating “black puppies aren’t selling” so he “put them to sleep.”

Stoltzfus said he did not take the dogs to a veterinarian and “did it himself.”

Lancaster County Detectives and a PSPCA Officer responded to the 600 block of Hollander Road around 9:35 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2023, and spoke with Stoltzfus, who stated he put the puppies in a compost pile on the property.

A search warrant was executed at Stoltzfus’ property the same day around 12:18 p.m. and the defendant said he “put them down” in reference to the puppies and stated, “We have a way of doing it, we took good care of them.”

When asked by a detective to show where the puppies were, Stoltzfus pointed to a floor drain inside a barn where cow manure runs off. The detective did not see any puppy remains in the area.

Stoltzfus remains free after posting $10,000 unsecured bail. He is on pre-trial supervision and prohibited from buying, breeding, or selling any domestic animals.

Stoltzfus is scheduled to be arraigned June 14.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.