A McHenry man is accused of starving and not providing medical treatment to multiple pit bulls, court records show.

Jason Pastryk, 29, made a first appearance Friday on two criminal misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, records show.

A warrant had been issued for his arrest since October in this case; while he was on pretrial release in a separate pending case with similar charges involving different dogs from 2024, according to court documents. He had failed to appear in court in that case, records filed in McHenry County court show.

His lawyer said he’s innocent of the charges.

Authorities said at about 2 p.m. Sept. 3, two female pit bulls named Max and Eleven, both 4 years old, were found on Pastryk’s property. Both dogs experienced “cruel treatment, starvation and abuse,” according to a criminal complaint.

Pastryk allegedly “failed to provide adequate shelter, care and nourishment” for the dogs and they had “visible signs of starvation including emaciation.” Both dogs were “infested with flea and tick bites, and had urine burns on multiple parts” of their bodies, the complaint said.

Pastryk referred to the location they were found as “my property” and said the dogs were staying there under his direction, authorities said. Additionally, he told authorities “he was paying people to care for them but refused to provide any names,” according to the complaint.

When Pastryk made Friday’s court appearance for the alleged cruelty of Max and Eleven, he was on pretrial release on the earlier case with “very similar offenses,” Judge Justin Hansen said in a petition revoking Pastryk’s pretrial release and detaining him in the county jail, records show.

In the earlier case, on Sept. 13, 2024, authorities said they found two different female pit bulls, Meatball and Karma, who were both about 3 years old. In that case, Pastryk also was accused of starving these dogs to the point of emaciation, complaints and information in that case show. He is charged in that case with two counts of cruelty to animals and neglect of animal owner’s duties, criminal misdemeanors, records show.

According to a motion in Pastryk’s file, four dogs were found “visibly emaciated with their ribs, hips and spines visible through their skin.” All four dogs were found living ”in an area full of feces and urine consistent with being present for a long period of time without care," according to the motion.

In the motion, prosecutors said the conditions the dogs were found in “were unfit for any animal to be living.”

Statements from a woman also are included in the prosecutors’ motion regarding the deaths of two other pit bulls in Pastryk’s care. She told authorities that Pastryk, prior to having Meatball, Karma, Eleven and Max, he had two other dogs named Glock and Celine, both about 3 years old. Those dogs “had died while in the defendant’s care,” according to the motion written by Assistant State’s Attorney William Baker.

After they died, rather than dispose of them properly, Pastryk allegedly “wrapped the dogs in plastic and stored them in bins,” prosecutors said in the filing. He later put the bins at the edge of the woman’s property, according to the motion.

The motion is written in the state’s anticipation that Pastryk’s defense at the trial regarding Meatball and Karma will be that he “was not aware that his actions were considered cruel to animals. In other words it was an accident or mistake when the food he provided” was “insufficient” to keep the dogs healthy, the motion states.

The state wants to admit evidence of his actions in the claimed deaths of Celine and Glock to establish that Pastryk knew “his actions would lead to the starvation and – if it had continued – eventual death of Karma and Meatball. Simply put this was not an accident,” Baker said in the motion.

The prosecutor also wants to include evidence related to the conditions in which Eleven and Max were found.

Nick Kubiak, public information officer at McHenry County Animal Control, said Karma and Meatball were never in custody of animal control. When discovered they “were temporarily in the care of” a woman “who became their legal owner,” Kubiak said. “Animal cruelty charges were issued, and [the woman] complied with veterinary care and a re-feeding plan. Both Karma and Meatball remain with her and are doing well.“

Kubiak said when Eleven and Max were found, they were “confiscated by Animal Control.”

“Both dogs were found malnourished and in poor conditions,“ he said. ”Eleven has been transferred to a rescue and has since been adopted. Max is currently available for adoption through McHenry County Animal Control.“

Prior to being criminally charged, Pastryk had been given eight ordinance violations in 2023 regarding dogs in his care including Meatball and a Labrador retriever named Jax, court records show.

Pastryk’s 2024 case involving Meatball and Karma is set to be heard in a bench trial before Hansen on March 4.

His attorney George Kililis said: “We are confident that he is innocent of the charges and we believe the facts will exonerate him.”