Almost Heaven Kennel owner Derbe Eckhart wept as he was sentenced Tuesday in Lehigh County Court. A jury convicted him in March on a pair of animal cruelty charges but acquitted him on four other counts.
Eckhart was charged with cruelty after a 2008 raid of his Allentown-area kennel by animal welfare workers and the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement.
Prosecutors say scores of animals found at the kennel suffered from severe, painful matting and a variety of skin, eye and upper respiratory ailments.
Eckhart told the judge he let his love of animals get out of control and took on too many.
