Hillsborough, New Hampshire – On August 18, 2026, Charles “Chuck” Puccio Jr., 78, of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty to multiple charges stemming from his attacks on 15 painted turtles who were found dead between June 6 and June 12.
According to New Hampshire Fish & Game:
- 15 painted turtles were found dead between June 6 and June 12, with evidence they had been run over.
- On June 12, a witness reportedly saw a man stop his UTV, get out, pick up a nesting painted turtle and deliberately stomp on it before driving away.
- The witness found the turtle with a damaged shell and got it to a wildlife rehabilitator.
- On June 17, Fish & Game officers surveilled Bog Road and reportedly witnessed a man matching the suspect’s description engaging in the same conduct.
- The man was identified as Puccio.
The surviving turtle has been named Oka by New Hampshire Turtle Rescue. She suffered significant shell trauma from the stomping incident and has been undergoing rehabilitation. As of the latest report, she’s expected to make a full recovery and be returned to the wild in spring 2027, assuming her rehabilitation continues successfully.
New Hampshire Turtle Rescue’s executive director, Dallas Huggins, described the conduct as “disgusting and so depraved.”
NH Turtle Rescue outlined the outcome of this case, writing:
Puccio pled guilty to these charges in court on August 18th and was convicted on all three counts. He was fined $620 that will be returned after a year of good behavior, along with about $250 in court fees and a permanent record of the convictions.
The cruelty to wildlife charge should have been felony-level, but NHFG is only able to charge up to a misdemeanor on its own. The Hillsborough County District Attorney wasn’t moving forward with the felony charges, so NHFG did the most that they could.
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28 Comments
Lie him on street and drop a wrecking ball on him! The end!
Excellent idea with the wrecking ball!!!! What is Beyond crazy to me is this killer gets his freaking money back, WTH 🤬🤬🤬 He obviously has been deliberately looking for turtles pulling them off their nesting area to kill them. What did the freaking turtles ever do to deserve that? by walking slowly?The district attorney is a lazy a$$**** that doesn’t give a crap about wildlife, so he should be removed as it’s illegal to kill wildlife like that and it’s His Job no Matter What the case may be. Illegal is going against the LAW. This guy could wipe out generations if they didn’t stop him and now on freaking good behavior he gets his freaking money back when it should be going to the turtles rehabilitation. Shells take a long time to grow back.
Well this is a complete sentencing joke. A depraved piece of trash that would torture innocent turtles deserves to be locked up, if not some street justice is a good solution and a group of people can stomp the creep to death. I truly feel sorry for animals having to share the world with humans.
Entirely agree. And as for returning the money after one year – I’m speechless.
💯💯💯 Agree with that. We should be respectful to all animals as they were on mother earth and took good care of the planet before we came.
WTF he puts down a refundable deposit for he disgusting behavior?? Has someone lost their damn mind? This “person” should not be running around loose with what I can only assume is Swiss cheese for a brain. What really should be happening due to his age is finding a tar pit to throw him into so eventually his old ass will become oil and pay back society for having to deal with his trashy behavior. Gramps needs to be locked up in a home… preferably one with a 1.5 google rating.
Not only should he be fined he should be responsible the money for rehabilitation of this turtle
WITH ABUSIVE ‘DICKHEADS’ LIKE THIS OLD FART ARE ‘BECOMING AN EVERY DAY THING’
VERY SOON THERE WILL BE ‘NOTHING’ BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE LEFT IN THIS WORLD???????
THIS EVIL PERPETRATOR IS ‘SICK’
TAKE HIM OUT OF SOCIETY ALTOGETHER LOCK HIM UP ON ALCATRAZ AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!!!!
SEE HOW HE GETS ON THERE WITH THE PARANORMAL KILLER INMATES!!!
PLENTY IN THE CELLS!!!
DON’T JUST SMACK HIM ON THE HAND WITH A $650 FINE WHICH THEY HAVE ALSO HELD BACK GIVING HIM?????
JUST A JOKE!!!
Just push ole Chucky in front of a bus.
Once again, another psychopath that gets away with animal cruelty and is set free to continue his killings. Our laws for punishment for animal abusers and killers is no more than a big joke!
RUN THE FUCKER’S DICK OVER AND LET HIM BLEED OUT!!! RENEE CARIGLIA
Renee….. you have a mouth just like me!!!!! Keep saying it like it is girl!! My heroine!!!!!
RUN THE FUCKER’S DICK OVER AND LET HIM BLEED OUT!!! RENEE CARIGLIA
RUN THE FUCKER’S DICK OVER AND LET HIM BLEED OUT!!! RENEE CARIGLIA
Yiu fvking piece of Shit, you old Geezer, somebody needs to Stomp on you & cut your Genitals off, ohhh tge pain you will have will be farcworse than what you INTENTIONALLY done to those poor Turtles. you shoukd be ashamed of yourself, an old fuck like you shoukd know better, you senile piece of Shit!! God will get you but good!!
Yiu fvking piece of Shit, you old Geezer, somebody needs to Stomp on you & cut your Genitals off, ohhh tge pain you will have will be farcworse than what you INTENTIONALLY done to those poor Turtles. you shoukd be ashamed of yourself, an old fuck like you shoukd know better, you senile piece of Shit!! God will get you but good!!
States need to increase the penalties for animal abuse. There’s more incidences of it every day and it needs to be stopped. But humans are so stupid that most abusers think they’ll never get caught. So anyone who witnesses an act of abuse needs to report the incident to authorities….take photos – we all have phones it seems…. let’s put them to work for the good!
And ANIMAL ABUSE KEEPS GETTING WORSE EVERY DAY. LAWS ARE NOT ENFORCED. HUMANS ARE EVIL SCUM. KARMS WILL GET ALL WHO ABUSE ANIMALS.
What kind of person paints turtles and stomp them to death !What is wrong with this old man? He doesn’t deserve to live free! Put him in prison and let them stomp on him. There’s no excuse for this.
This is premeditated … He needs to be held accountable.!
What kind of person paints turtles and stomp them to death !What is wrong with this old man? He doesn’t deserve to live free! Put him in prison and let them stomp on him. There’s no excuse for this.
This is premeditated … He needs to be held accountable.!
These are called painted turtles. The creep did not paint them.
These are called painted turtles. The creep did not paint them.
These are called painted turtles. The creep did not paint them.
These are called painted turtles. The creep did not paint them.
These are called painted turtles. The creep did not paint them.
STERELIZE him
There should be MUCH MORE punishment and fines than that measly amount for deliberately killing 15 turtles. And why on earth should that miserable old fart get his fine back???? That should go to the rescue that is rehabiling the surviving turtle. What kind of stupid state is New Hampshire? They need to upgrade their cruelty laws.
And I hope the old bastard dies before getting his fine back.
totally agree with all the comments on here.