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Article Archive > Man gets jail time, fines for attacks on neighbor's dogs Man gets jail time, fines for attacks on neighbor's dogs A man who admitted to driving nails through a fence in order to injure his neighbor's German shepherds was sentenced to 15 days in Monmouth County jail this morning. David Lench, 50, also was ordered to pay $4,000 in fines by Municipal Court Judge Richard Thompson after pleading guilty to three counts of animal cruelty, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of the Monmouth County SPCA. Lench admitted earlier this year, he drove 18 3-inch nails through a fence that separates his yard at 40 Swartzel Drive from that of his neighbor, Michael Flynn. He pleaded guilty to separate counts of tormenting an animal, purposely causing an injury and animal abuse. "The goal was that when the dogs ran around near the fence they would get caught on the nails," Amato said. Amato was called to Flynn's home in February after one of the dogs returned inside with puncture wounds on it's face. "There was a blood trail right from the fence to the house," Amato said. Lench's sentence comes less than a year after he was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine after pleading guilty trying to poison the dogs by dumping about 300 mothballs along the same fence line. No dogs were injured at the time. "These nails were literally within inches of the same spot along the fence," Amato said. Lench's lawyer Michael V. Gilberti of Red Bank was not immediately available for comment. The stint in county was handed down two days after an Ocean County Superior Court Judge declined to impose a jail term on a man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after 68 dead animals were found inside his vacated home in Barnegat. Matthew Teymant, 30, was placed on probation for five years and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service by Judge Barbara A. Villano. Prosecutors had asked that Teymant, the son of a now-retired Toms River police officer who trained K-9 dogs, be sentenced to 364 days in county jail. The judge, in explaining her decision, cited letters that she received from Teymant's neighbors and friends, his lack of any prior criminal history, and the absence of any malfeasance in parenting his two young sons, one 2 years old and the other 10 months old. Teymant's wife, Amanda, 23, was permitted to enter an 18-month diversionary program to avoid a criminal record for her role in the animal abuse.
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