Man admits to fatally beating two puppies

A Mineola man on Monday admitted to fatally beating two puppies and seriously injuring another that lost a leg, agreeing to a plea deal that will send him to jail for a year and ban him from having a pet.

Ellie Knoller, 31, pleaded guilty to three felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty in a case that Nassau Supervising Judge Teresa Corrigan called “abhorrent” and “horrible.”

The judge said she planned to sentence Knoller this spring to 1 year in jail and 5 years of probation under terms of his plea. She also plans to ban him from having a pet, perhaps for as long as 50 years.

Knoller had been facing up to 2 years behind bars on the top charge against him after a 2019 indictment accused him of three counts each of aggravated animal cruelty and animal torture.

The indictment also charged his wife, Jessica Kuncman, 32, with one count of animal torture. She had been facing up to a year in jail if convicted of that charge.

Prosecutors said at the time of the couple’s arraignment that Knoller inflicted fatal beatings on two newly adopted puppies in February 2019, while Kuncman failed to seek medical attention for a third beaten puppy for hours.

The crimes came to light after the couple brought the third puppy, an 11-week-old goldendoodle named Bella, to a Westbury veterinarian after she had been beaten nearly to death, according to prosecutors.

The case also involved the deaths of a shepherd mix named Tucker and Bella’s littermate, a puppy named Cooper. The crimes happened in less than three weeks, prosecutors said at the time of the couple’s arraignment.

The couple adopted Tucker from North Shore Animal League America before Knoller beat the dog and it died about a week later from a kidney rupture, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

The next day, the couple bought Cooper from a Pennsylvania breeder. But two days later, the couple brought Cooper to a vet in cardiac arrest before the dog died of a lacerated liver, authorities said previously.

About a week later, the couple brought Bella to a vet for treatment before authorities seized the puppy — which underwent medical treatment before going into foster care, according to prosecutors.

On Monday, Knoller admitted to intentionally inflicting deadly blunt force trauma to Tucker and Cooper and to causing serious physical injury to Bella, injuring her rib cage and a leg.

Prosecutors said Bella has continued her recovery and has been adopted into a permanent home.

Based on Knoller’s plea deal, prosecutors said they will agree at the time of his sentencing that the case against Kuncman can end with an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal. Kuncman's attorney, Jeffrey Groder, said that means her case will be dismissed if she doesn't get into any more legal trouble for a certain period of time. 

Knoller’s attorney, Greg Madey, declined to comment after court Monday.

Nassau District Attorney’s office spokesman Brendan Brosh said prosecutors sought the maximum punishment of 2 years behind bars for Knoller, saying he “sadistically inflicted blunt force trauma on multiple dogs."

He added that prosecutors also are seeking to block Knoller from having custody of animals for 50 years and are “committed to aggressively prosecuting anyone who harms or neglects animals.” 

Nassau County SPCA President Gary Rogers said Monday that his agency led the investigation into what he called a "horrid" case, saying it also resulted in state legislation recently being passed that requires veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse.