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Article Archive > Middletown woman fined $1,000 in animal abandonment case Middletown woman fined $1,000 in animal abandonment case MIDDLETOWN - A township woman pleaded guilty in municipal court this morning to a civil charge of animal abandonment after leaving three gerbils and a hamster in a closed box in a wooded area off Stavola Drive. Wendy Fiolek, 39, was fined $1,000 after her attorney, Lawrence W. Luttrell, worked out the plea agreement with local authorities and the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, the society's chief of police. Fiolek had faced a maximum fine of $8,000 and up to six months in jail on the original charges of abandoning the four creatures. Those charges were set aside by Middletown Municipal Court Judge Michael D. Pugliese as part of the plea agreement. The animals were former household pets, Amato said. They were found on Sept. 15 when a boy walking his dog heard them scratching against the box and squealing, he added. A shipping invoice inside the box led authorities to Fiolek, Amato said. By pleading to a civil law violation rather than a disorderly persons offense as originally charged, Fiolek avoided any criminal arrest record, Amato said. "It was a good resolution," Luttrell said. "She's actually an animal lover. The top of the box was open. Her intention was to release them into the woods. Unfortunately she didn't understand you can't do that."
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