After a judgment Tuesday against him in State Supreme Court in St. Lawrence County, the owner of a service dog business has been ordered to shut down his “sham” operation.

Jon C. Sabin of South Colton, who had advertised for sale trained “seizure alert” service dogs, has been ordered to shut the business down and is banned from advertising or selling service dogs in the future, in part due to statements from customers, witnesses and dog trainers who said Sabin’s dogs were not capable of performing the tasks for which they were supposedly trained.

In a voluminous submission to the court of Justice David Demarest, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleged that Sabin and his for-profit business, Seizure Alert Dogs For Life, Inc., engaged in deceptive business practices, misleading consumers across the country, in New York, California, Washington State, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, into believing that he was screening and training dogs to assist their disabled children and family members in medical emergencies.

An announcement on the decision from Schneiderman’s office called Sabin’s business a “sham.”

“There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever that this man took any steps to select or train these dogs as he represented,” Schneiderman said.

“I will not tolerate scams which take advantage of the disadvantaged and that are abusive to animals,” the attorney general said. “This man placed children and dogs at risk through his reckless practices and unfounded representations. Consumer scams come in all shapes and forms and the vulnerable and desperate are often the targets because they desperately want to believe that relief is at hand.”

Justice Demarest, in his decision this week, issued permanent injunctions forever prohibiting Sabin and Seizure Alert Dogs for Life, Inc., from advertising or selling “service dogs” alleged to be trained to respond to or assist persons suffering with epilepsy or other medical conditions. Sabin began the business in 2009.

In his decision, Demarest highlighted what were deemed false claims from and illegal business practices by Sabin: “… the Petition is supported by numerous affidavits of individuals who state that the dogs are not properly trained and lack general obedience skills and temperament to function as a service dog. It should be noted that these sworn statements are from customers, witnesses and dog trainers alike. In these numerous sworn statements, customers allege Sabin delivered an insufficiently-trained dog, drank alcohol to excess and failed to adequately train the family upon delivery. When questioned, he was verbally abusive, swore, became hostile, acted in a threatening manner and abused the service animals by punching, hitting and kicking the dogs.”

The court found that Sabin produced no evidence in admissible form to challenge the allegations relating to proper dog selection and training.

The attorney general’s office identified victims throughout the United States who had spent thousands of dollars -- many times by raising money through fundraisers -- to obtain Sabin’s dogs. The deception was only apparent after the dogs arrived and it was realized that they were entirely untrained for service work and unsuited to the task, Scheiderman said.

There were also accounts of people being injured when they were bitten or knocked down by a dog they bought from Sabin. In one case, a “service dog” sold by Sabin attacked a family’s cat and attacked and broke the neck of a small family dog. In another instance it was alleged that a dog that was provided had previously been returned to its breeder for aggression toward children.