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Article Archive > Aberdeen man gets 5 years for drowning 19 cats Aberdeen man gets 5 years for drowning 19 cats FREEHOLD - A Superior Court judge today 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. "As far as I'm concerned, it couldn't have gone better," Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of police for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said of the sentencing hearing. "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. "Keep him off the streets forever." 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 S.P.C.A. revealed that Appolonia sought out the cats that he later killed by answering ads for pet adoptions. In addition to imposing the prison term, Neafsey ordered that Appolonia serve 40 hours of community service, although the judge specified that the work must not be performed at the S.P.C.A. or any agency dealing with animals. Neafsey also barred Appolonia from owning cats or being around felines without supervision. Appolonia's attorney, John Koufos, said that his client, with credit for time he has served in the Monmouth County Jail from his arrest last year, could be considered for release on parole in as little as three weeks.
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