Officials say police seized 37 dogs from the Aranwood Kennel in Mahwah on Tuesday.
The owner was arrested after a customer found a dog still alive in a garbage bag in a dumpster on the property. When kennel owner Richard Dubarton was asked about the dog, he stated that someone must have dumped the dog.
However, police later found out that Dubarton had picked up the dog months earlier from Irvington, where he also worked as an animal control officer.
Dubarton is now charged with several animal cruelty offenses.
News 12 was given photos of some of the dogs being kept at the kennel, which showed one animal with open wounds. Others looked to be very thin.
Dubarton has a court appearance on March 8 in Bergen County Superior Court.