BIDDEFORD — A District Court judge entered pleas of not guilty to animal cruelty charges on behalf of a Buxton couple charged two years ago with running an illegal puppy mill.

Judge Wayne R. Douglas told John and Heidi Frasca that he would enter the not guilty pleas on their behalf because if they are convicted they could face a sentence of up to one year in jail.

The Buxton couple were summonsed in 2007 and are charged with keeping an unlicensed kennel as well as 26 counts of animal cruelty, a Class D crime. The charges stem from an investigation into their business, J’aime Kennels, in Buxton, which was raided by Buxton Police and animal welfare agencies in August 2007.

The couple’s more than 200 dogs and puppies were taken from the site, several of which were allegedly found to be ill with giardiasis and sarcoptic mange. Most were brought back to health by animal welfare agencies and later adopted out to local families.

The Frascas, of 35 Paucek Road in Buxton at the time of the investigation, were arrested earlier this summer in Massachusetts and charged with failure to appear at their earlier court hearings. The two were transported to York County Jail and made bail.

John Frasca told the judge Wednesday that he had been unable to secure a lawyer and had no evidence to defend himself due to the state’s confiscation of his belongings at his home business.

Talking to the media after the hearing, John Frasca said the state had confiscated his records, his children’s computers, his firearms and his phones.

“I’m not guilty of anything,” said Frasca. “We can’t commit a crime against our own property. My dogs, chickens, cows, goats, horses, are my property, not my person. I have a right to pursue them.”

Frasca spoke at length to the press following the hearing and became emotional at one point.

“It’s sick in this country that people can do this to us,” he said. “They put us out of business. It’s the animal radicals who just don’t want to see people domesticate animals. If we don’t stop ’em, they’ll put us all out of business.”

The dogs at his kennel, he said, always had food and water and “every dog had a name and a birthday.”

The couple is scheduled to appear in court again Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. Judge Douglas told them that if they were unable to secure or afford a lawyer, one would be provided for them.

— City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com.