Apr 24, 2018 2 min read

A Bentleyville man who is appealing his conviction on animal cruelty charges filed against him last August faces new charges filed Monday by a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer.

Frederick A. Frameli, 68, of 120 Spring St., is charged with having three hybrid wolf-dogs at his home without a permit and unsworn falsification.

Frameli also is accused of unlawfully applying for a dog license, knowing the animals were not dogs, but hybrids.

In court documents filed Monday at the office of District Judge Curtis Thompson, state game warden Richard Joyce indicated that on Aug. 18, Frameli admitted to Joyce, a state dog warden and two deputy game wardens that three of the animals seized from his home the previous day were wolf hybrids he got in Ohio.

Joyce reportedly told Frameli wolf-dog hybrids are illegal to have in Pennsylvania and he would have to get them into a proper facility.

Frameli allegedly went to the Washington County treasurer’s office Aug. 21 and registered the hybrids as German shepherds. DNA testing done on the animals showed they are hybrids. The animals are currently at the Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania in Lititz, Lancaster County.

In September, Thompson found Frameli guilty and fined him $100 for each of 11 counts of failing to provide adequate food and water to the animals seized from his home in August, and ordered him to pay $300 restitution to Washington Area Humane Society, where the dogs and wolf hybrids were first taken.

Thompson also fined Frameli $500 for a count related to holding a dog’s head underwater in a container, which was referred to as “waterboarding.”

Frameli appealed those convictions. A hearing began earlier this month before Senior Judge William Nalitz, but it was continued.

A preliminary hearing on the new charges will be held before Thompson.