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Article Archive > NJ woman pleads guilty to tossing Chihuahuas out of car NJ woman pleads guilty to tossing Chihuahuas out of car KEANSBURG - A Keansburg woman pleaded guilty Thursday morning to eight counts of animal cruelty, abandonment and abuse after admitting she was responsible for throwing two Chihuahuas out of a moving vehicle in Middletown earlier this month, authorities said. Keansburg Municipal Court Judge Michael D. Pugliese fined Kelley $4,000 and ordered her not to have any pets for the next five years, Amato said. Kelley took full responsibility for the animal cruelty prompting Pugliese to drop similar charges against her 16-year-old juvenile child, Amato said. Kelley and her child were arrested on June 2 after witnesses said they saw two people throw two dogs out of a lime green, four-door, Mitsubishi-type vehicle with tinted windows traveling on Bayside Parkway in Middletown, Amato said. During three separate interviews, Kelley told investigators the dogs were stolen, but in a fourth interview, she admitted to throwing the two dogs out of a car, Amato said. The dogs, Taco, a male, and, Chico, a female, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Red Bank Animal Hospital, in Red Bank, where they were treated and released to the SPCA, Amato said. Pugliese awarded full custody of the dogs to the SPCA Tuesday. "We've had hundreds of people wanting to adopt these dogs," Amato said. "They will be adopted together." The owner of the dogs, Kim Passmore, 52, also of Brookside Avenue, is Kelley's mother and the juvenile's grandmother, according to Amato. Passmore told Amato she had no knowledge of her daughter's intention to get rid of the dogs. But Kelley said she was trying to do her mother a favor by disposing of the dogs, Amato said. "She felt she was doing her mother a favor because she felt her mother couldn't take care of the dogs, but her mother had two other dogs back at the house already," Amato said. |