The owner of a clothing shop in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood has pleaded guilty to 105 counts of animal cruelty for illegally selling turtle hatchlings that were being raised in poor conditions.

A plea agreement accepted by Allegheny County Judge Kelly Bigley on Thursday forbids store owner Edward Muhammed Christian, 44, of South Park, from owning any type of animal for three years, according to Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

Christian also has agreed to pay a $500 fine.

Police say Christian hatched and sold red-eared slider turtles out of his Brownsville Road store, Al Shatel Halal Adornments, that were less than 4 inches in size, which is illegal in Pennsylvania.

Animal cruelty officers with Humane Animal Rescue said the turtles Christian sold were not receiving proper care.

Police first inspected the store in August 2020 after receiving a complaint about the turtles, which were being advertised for sale for $20 each on a sign in the store’s window.

Officers found a 10-gallon tank on the floor filled with 80 turtle hatchlings, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Katie Kefalso, the senior manager for Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, accompanied police to inspect the shop. She said a 10-gallon tank would be the right size for only one turtle hatchling.

She said the turtles also did not have access to sun and there was no light in the aquarium. There also were no rocks for the turtles to climb onto to get out of the water and they “had no way to eat.”

The tank did not contain enough water and the little that it did have was “filthy” because there was no filtration system, Kefalso said.

Police said they found another 17 turtle hatchlings in the store that were being kept in small containers with no water at all.

Many of the hatchlings were malnourished, suffered from swollen eyes and feet and had respiratory infections, the complaint said.

Police said Christian agreed to turn over all the turtles as well as the tank and other equipment in the store. The turtles were taken to Nate’s Reptile Rescue in South Park.

Two months after police shut down the turtle hatching operation, they said they received a report that Christian was again selling turtles out of the shop.

A male and female detective posing as a married couple buying a turtle for their child went to the shop on Nov. 1 to verify the report, the complaint said.

A woman working at the shop went next door to retrieve a 1-inch turtle hatchling offered for sale for $20, according to the affidavit.

Police went back to the shop with a search warrant on Nov. 5 and confiscated another eight turtles that were still being kept in poor conditions in adjacent properties.

Of the 105 turtles confiscated from the shop, 11 died, police said.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)