AUBURN – A Greene man agreed to spend a week in jail and pay a $1,000 fine in one of the worst puppy mill cases authorities say they’ve seen in Maine.

The case involved more than 90 dogs, many of them sick, crammed into a three-car garage, authorities said.

Sentencing for Donald Asselin, 49, on 20 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty will be postponed for a year, said prosecutor Andrew Robinson. If Asselin stays out of trouble until December 2009, 10 of the 20 counts will be dropped. He originally faced 35 counts of animal cruelty.

In December 2009, he would plead guilty to 10 counts of animal cruelty. He would spend a week in Androscoggin County Jail and pay a $1,000 fine. If he were to violate the terms of his presentencing probation, a judge could sentence him on 20 counts with no prearranged terms for the sentence, Robinson said.

The Maine Animal Welfare Program received complaints from Asselin’s customers, who said the dogs they bought from him were diseased. His license allowed him to keep 30 dogs in his converted three-car garage. When they inspected it early in December, authorities discovered more than 90 dogs living in the confined space, said Norma Worley, director of the program. Some cages were stacked three high.

Many of the dogs were drastically underfed and suffered from worms and intestinal parasites, said Steven Dostie, executive director of the Greater Androscoggin County Humane Society in Lewiston. Dostie’s shelter housed 25 of the dogs. The rest of the dogs were divided among three other shelters in the state, Worley said.

“They were all skin and bones,” Dostie said. “It was probably one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen,” said Dostie, who has worked at the Humane Society since 1980.

Many of the animals suffered from mange and some were burned by having to lie in their own urine for prolonged periods.

One Weimaraner puppy that looked to be 8 weeks old from its size turned out to be about 5 months old. After arriving at Dostie’s shelter, the dog gained five pounds in four days. A Basset hound gained six pounds over that period.

Asselin apparently sold the dogs he bred and warehoused to individual pet owners as well as pet stores, authorities said.

None of the dogs Dostie took in were euthanized. A Bichon was so badly traumatized, animal officers were afraid it couldn’t be adopted. But Dostie’s shelter was able to place the dog, he said.

“He was shell-shocked. He would hide in the corner and shiver,” he said. “We got lucky. We found the perfect home.”

Dostie said he found rescue shelters for some of the pure breeds, such as the Dobermans that went to New Hampshire.

Asselin agreed to pay $2,500 in restitution to the state’s Animal Welfare Program to help defray the cost of caring for the dogs until they can be adopted.

Robinson said Asselin will be allowed to keep four dogs, which must be spayed or neutered. He also must submit to unscheduled visits from authorities to make sure he’s complying with terms of his plea agreement.