Left to right: Aimee J. Lonczak and Michele Nycz (Ocean County Corrections).
A pair of New Jersey women will avoid prison time and instead spend one day shy of a year in jail over a dizzying amount of animal cruelty.
In June, Michele Nycz, 60, and Aimee Lonczak, 51, pleaded guilty to two counts each of animal cruelty, according to a press release issued by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time, Lonczak additionally pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect.
That early summer plea deal, however, dispensed with a case concerning a litany of animals kept in unhealthy, inadequate and otherwise deplorable conditions. When the sad state of affairs was first reported to law enforcement by various neighbors, Lonczak’s then-16-year-old daughter lived at the same filthy residence.
On Friday, Ocean County Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan sentenced each defendant to 364 days in the Ocean County Jail for their animal cruelty convictions. Loncaz was also given a 364-day jail sentence for her lone child neglect conviction — which the judge assessed to run concurrently.
The women were arrested in December 2022 when Brick Township Police Department responded to an anonymous complaint about an alleged puppy mill at a residence on Arrowhead Park Drive. The defendants, as it turns out, were not running a puppy mill — but a severely lax animal rescue shelter with mostly adult dogs.
“Officers detected a strong odor coming from the residence and heard barking,” the prosecutor’s office summarized. “Officers were subsequently permitted to enter the residence, and immediately detected an intense odor and unsanitary conditions. Additionally, the Officers observed animal crates containing dogs and cats stacked on top of one another.”
In total, 129 dogs and 43 cats were found living in the residence. The bodies of two dead dogs were also recovered and removed — but not by the responding officers. The conditions inside the Lonczak house were so dire that a Hazmat crew had to be called to the scene to dispense with the poor and poorly kept creatures.
In January 2023, prosecutors moved to revoke the duo’s bail after they allegedly showed up at the Southern Ocean County Animal Shelter “demanding the return of their dogs,” according to an earlier press release. The state argued those alleged demands violated a bail condition that forbade them from having contact with animals — but, in the end, Lonczak and Nycz were allowed to remain on pre-trial release.
Now, formally guilty, their time with animals is legally limited.
As part of their sentences, the court imposed a lifetime ban on animal ownership and working with animals. Both defendants were also ordered to perform community service — which cannot involve animals.
Additionally, both of the since-condemned women will be subject to four years of probation following their stay in the county jail.
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