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Article Archive > Aberdeen man gets 5 years for killing cats Aberdeen man gets 5 years for killing cats FREEHOLD - A Superior Court judge on Thursday sentenced a 50-year-old Aberdeen man to the maximum prison term of five years for beating and drowning 19 cats, some of them kittens, after adopting them from area feline lovers last year. The sentence, imposed by Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey on Anthony Appolonia, was applauded afterward by some animal lovers, although others said they wished the defendant got a longer prison term. "I'm very, very happy," Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of police for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said after the sentencing hearing for Appolonia. Amato said the five-year prison term - the maximum for cruelty involving the death of an animal - was unprecedented in Monmouth County. "It sends a clear message to the people in Monmouth County that animal cruelty will not be tolerated," he said. "I wish he could have gotten five years for each animal," said Alice White, who had given Appolonia one of the cats he later killed. ' Another woman who gave Appolonia a cat that was later killed is Lois Justice. Neither woman wanted their hometowns revealed. "Of course, it's not enough," Justice said of Appolonia's prison term. "But I'm happy that he got the full sentence they were allowed to give him." Appolonia's attorney, John Koufos, said his client - in the Monmouth County Jail since his arrest Dec. 21 - could be considered for release from prison on parole in as little as three weeks. Koufos asked Neafsey to sentence Appolonia to a term of probation and time he has already served in jail, so that he could be supervised by probation officers and get the psychological treatment he needs. Appolonia would not receive as adequate supervision from parole officers who have more serious offenders to monitor, Koufos maintained. But Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Nicole Colucci countered that a five-year prison term was needed. "We need to send a message that animal cruelty will be taken seriously," Colucci said. Appolonia pleaded guilty Sept. 29 to each of the 19 counts of animal cruelty he had been charged with. The crimes occurred from Oct. 20, 2007, to Dec. 18, 2007, in Appolonia's home. In entering his guilty plea, Appolonia admitted to Neafsey that he beat each of the animals with his own hands, breaking their bones, before drowning them in his bathtub. An investigation by the SPCA, prompted by the suspicions of Lakewood resident Roseanne Sullivan, revealed that Appolonia sought out the cats he later killed by answering ads for pet adoptions. "He purposely sought out each and every one of these animals," Colucci told the judge at the sentencing. "He looked for them. . . . He knew what he was going to do with those animals when he got them." Colucci said it wasn't enough for Appolonia to simply kill the cats. "This case wasn't just about the death of these animals. Mr. Appolonia made them suffer first," Colucci said. "He did it over and over and over again, and the only time he stopped was when Chief Amato went to his house and placed him under arrest," Colucci said. Colucci said the case attracted the attention of hundreds of animal-lovers nationwide who wrote letters to the Prosecutor's Office expressing their horror. Before he was sentenced, Appolonia apologized to "my friends and family" and said he needs psychological treatment. Neafsey cited a psychologist's report that Appolonia was an unhappy individual who was angered over the loss of his job when he killed the animals. But the report concluded there was no psychiatric defense for Appolonia's actions, the judge said. "He was exercising life or death control and power over defenseless animals," Neafsey said of Appolonia. "He said that he broke their bones and he drowned them. He did this 19 times." Neafsey ordered that Appolonia serve 40 hours of community service when he is released from prison, although the judge said the work cannot be performed at any agency caring for animals. Neafsey also barred Appolonia from owning pets or being around felines without supervision.
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