GILL
09-30-2008, 02:09 PM
Aberdeen man admits adopting, then drowning, 19 cats
People who gave away pets sob as he tells of beatings
By KATHLEEN HOPKINS • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • September 30, 2008
·
A 50-year-old Aberdeen man admitted Monday that he beat and drowned 19 cats, some of them kittens, after adopting them from area feline lovers last year.
Some of the people who gave Anthony Appolonia the cats were sobbing uncontrollably as they heard him admit to Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey that he beat each of the animals with his own hands, breaking their bones, before drowning them in his bathtub.
"You broke their bones with your hands?" Neafsey asked Appolonia, who responded affirmatively.
"You held the cats under the water in the bathtub until they could no longer breathe?" the judge asked, to which Appolonia also answered that he did.
Neafsey posed the questions to Appolonia after the defendant's attorney, John G. Koufos, specifically questioned his client about each cat or kitten that he tortured and killed.
Koufos gave the following, brief descriptions of the feline victims: a gray and black, female kitten; a gray and white male kitten; a brown and black female kitten; a 7-month-old white female kitten; two tabby kittens; a 6- to 12-month-old cat; a 6- to 12-month-old orange cat; a 6- to 12-month-old black and white cat; a gray tabby kitten; a gray female cat; a black and orange, tortoise-shell cat; a calico cat; a 6- to 12-month-old black and white cat; a 1 1/2-year-old gray male cat; an 8-week-old kitten; an 8-week-old gray and black kitten; a 2-year-old gray female cat; and a female calico.
At one point, Koufos took a break from questioning Appolonia to hand his client some tissues. Koufos said afterward that Appolonia was crying throughout the proceeding. Appolonia's back was turned to spectators in the courtroom during the plea.
The crimes outlined by Koufos occurred from Oct. 20 to Dec. 18 in Appolonia's home.
Appolonia pleaded guilty to each of the 19 counts of animal cruelty he had been charged with. Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Nicole Colucci said the state will recommend that Appolonia receive the maximum five-year prison term for each count, but that the prison terms run concurrent to each other. Appolonia is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4.
Under the plea bargain, Appolonia will be forbidden for life from owning any animals, a restriction that will be enforced by the state Parole Department.
"'It's horrible," John Casale of Matawan said after listening to a recitation of what Appolonia did to the cats.
"These are innocent animals," Casale said. "What pushes a person to do this?"
Casale brought his suspicions about Appolonia to the attention of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in December, after he went to Appolonia's house, knowing he had recently been given many cats, but finding none of them there.
An ensuing SPCA investigation determined that Appolonia had acquired the cats by answering adoption advertisements that residents had placed in local newspapers.
Sixteen people, some who turned their cats over to Appolonia, sat in court to hear what he had done to them.
"I was just numb to actually hear him say what he did," said Gerry Ballwanz, one of seven people who had given cats to the defendant. "I don't even want to think about it."
Ballwanz explained how Appolonia requested more cats from her after she had given him one, and that he wanted the names of people from whom he could get additional cats, but she refused his request.
"We don't know what more he could have done if he didn't have a cat," said Ballwanz, who does not want her hometown known. "Was he going to go to dogs? Was he going to go to children? . . . Hopefully, we stopped him from doing something much worse."
Another woman who gave Appolonia two kittens, Vicky Hoffman of the Belford section of Middletown , said, "We couldn't believe there was anyone out there who could do that to a kitten."
Koufos said his client is very remorseful and that he decided to plead guilty to the crimes to spare the victims the trauma of having to testify at a trial. Although his client has mental health problems, a psychiatrist had determined he was competent to stand trial, Koufos said.
But he added: "Clearly, anyone who engages in this kind of conduct suffers from a host of mental illnesses."
Koufos, who was hired by the Public Defender's Office to represent Appolonia, said he himself struggled with whether to take the case.
"I was as shocked at the allegations as everyone else was," Koufos said.
A professed animal lover whose mother worked as an animal control officer and at an animal shelter in Bergen County , Koufos said he took the case only after deciding that he would donate his fee to the Monmouth County SPCA .
People who gave away pets sob as he tells of beatings
By KATHLEEN HOPKINS • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • September 30, 2008
·
A 50-year-old Aberdeen man admitted Monday that he beat and drowned 19 cats, some of them kittens, after adopting them from area feline lovers last year.
Some of the people who gave Anthony Appolonia the cats were sobbing uncontrollably as they heard him admit to Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey that he beat each of the animals with his own hands, breaking their bones, before drowning them in his bathtub.
"You broke their bones with your hands?" Neafsey asked Appolonia, who responded affirmatively.
"You held the cats under the water in the bathtub until they could no longer breathe?" the judge asked, to which Appolonia also answered that he did.
Neafsey posed the questions to Appolonia after the defendant's attorney, John G. Koufos, specifically questioned his client about each cat or kitten that he tortured and killed.
Koufos gave the following, brief descriptions of the feline victims: a gray and black, female kitten; a gray and white male kitten; a brown and black female kitten; a 7-month-old white female kitten; two tabby kittens; a 6- to 12-month-old cat; a 6- to 12-month-old orange cat; a 6- to 12-month-old black and white cat; a gray tabby kitten; a gray female cat; a black and orange, tortoise-shell cat; a calico cat; a 6- to 12-month-old black and white cat; a 1 1/2-year-old gray male cat; an 8-week-old kitten; an 8-week-old gray and black kitten; a 2-year-old gray female cat; and a female calico.
At one point, Koufos took a break from questioning Appolonia to hand his client some tissues. Koufos said afterward that Appolonia was crying throughout the proceeding. Appolonia's back was turned to spectators in the courtroom during the plea.
The crimes outlined by Koufos occurred from Oct. 20 to Dec. 18 in Appolonia's home.
Appolonia pleaded guilty to each of the 19 counts of animal cruelty he had been charged with. Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Nicole Colucci said the state will recommend that Appolonia receive the maximum five-year prison term for each count, but that the prison terms run concurrent to each other. Appolonia is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4.
Under the plea bargain, Appolonia will be forbidden for life from owning any animals, a restriction that will be enforced by the state Parole Department.
"'It's horrible," John Casale of Matawan said after listening to a recitation of what Appolonia did to the cats.
"These are innocent animals," Casale said. "What pushes a person to do this?"
Casale brought his suspicions about Appolonia to the attention of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in December, after he went to Appolonia's house, knowing he had recently been given many cats, but finding none of them there.
An ensuing SPCA investigation determined that Appolonia had acquired the cats by answering adoption advertisements that residents had placed in local newspapers.
Sixteen people, some who turned their cats over to Appolonia, sat in court to hear what he had done to them.
"I was just numb to actually hear him say what he did," said Gerry Ballwanz, one of seven people who had given cats to the defendant. "I don't even want to think about it."
Ballwanz explained how Appolonia requested more cats from her after she had given him one, and that he wanted the names of people from whom he could get additional cats, but she refused his request.
"We don't know what more he could have done if he didn't have a cat," said Ballwanz, who does not want her hometown known. "Was he going to go to dogs? Was he going to go to children? . . . Hopefully, we stopped him from doing something much worse."
Another woman who gave Appolonia two kittens, Vicky Hoffman of the Belford section of Middletown , said, "We couldn't believe there was anyone out there who could do that to a kitten."
Koufos said his client is very remorseful and that he decided to plead guilty to the crimes to spare the victims the trauma of having to testify at a trial. Although his client has mental health problems, a psychiatrist had determined he was competent to stand trial, Koufos said.
But he added: "Clearly, anyone who engages in this kind of conduct suffers from a host of mental illnesses."
Koufos, who was hired by the Public Defender's Office to represent Appolonia, said he himself struggled with whether to take the case.
"I was as shocked at the allegations as everyone else was," Koufos said.
A professed animal lover whose mother worked as an animal control officer and at an animal shelter in Bergen County , Koufos said he took the case only after deciding that he would donate his fee to the Monmouth County SPCA .