Women Face Jail Time In 180-Animal Brick Hoarding Case, Under Plea Offers

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Two women charged with animal cruelty in the hoarding of 180 dogs and cats at a Brick Township home have been offered plea deals that include jail time, officials said Tuesday.

Aimee J. Lonczak, 50, and Michele Nycz, 58, were in court before Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter Tuesday morning for a status hearing on the charges in connection with the Dec. 3 discovery of the dogs and cats in Nycz's home.

During the hearing, Assistant Prosecutor Alexander Becker said the prosecutor's office had finally received a pathologist's report on the necropsies performed on two dogs that were found dead in one of the crates removed from the home, and that the attorneys for Lonczak and Nycz had received copies of the reports.

Glenn Kassman, Lonczak's attorney, and Andrew Hannwacker, Nycz's attorney, requested an adjournment until April 18 to give them time to review the results and to discuss the terms of plea deals that were offered March 9 to both women.

The details of the plea offers were not released but they do include jail time, Becker said.

Neither woman spoke during the proceedings.

In setting the April 18 court date, Baxter said Lonczak and Nycz will need to make a decision on the plea offers by that date, as she "would be strongly disinclined to adjourn beyond April 18," she said.

"If she rejects it (the plea offer) it will go to a grand jury," Baxter told Kassman while addressing Lonczak's charges. The same would apply to Nycz, Baxter told Hannwacker.

Baxter also told both women that if they reject the plea deals and it goes to a grand jury, they should expect that future plea offers would "escalate," with increasing levels of proposed punishments.

Separately, Kassman told Baxter that Lonczak has withdrawn her claim to the five dogs she said were her personal pets. A consent agreement Becker presented — which Kassman acknowledged on Lonczak's behalf — said Lonczak was agreeing that she had signed over her claim to those dogs and all of the animals on Dec. 3.

Lonczak is charged with one count of fourth-degree animal cruelty and one count of second-degree child endangerment, while Nycz is charged with one count of third-degree animal cruelty and one count of second-degree child endangerment. The child endangerment charge is because Lonczak's 16-year-old daughter was living with them in the uninhabitable conditions.

Becker has said additional charges are pending.

There were 129 dogs and 44 cats removed from the house on Dec. 2 and 3, and six dogs and one cat removed from a vehicle parked in the driveway after Brick Township humane law enforcement officer Scott Smith insisted that Lonczak allow him to check the house.

The house, which had feces and urine 3 and 4 inches deep throughout and had fumes so strong that people had to put on hazmat suits to enter and retrieve the animals, was condemned by Brick Township code enforcement.

Previous coverage:

• Brick Animal Hoarding Case: Questions And Answers
• 180 Dogs, Cats Removed From Brick Home, 2 Arrested: Police
• Dogs, Cats From Brick 'Puppy Mill' Under Ocean County's Care
• How Rescue Founder Hid Brick Animal Hoarding: Fosters, Adopters Speak
• 'Nightmare': Popcorn Park Officer Shares Hoarder House Experience
  
• Women Released To Await Trial In Brick Animal Hoarding Case
  
• Animals From Brick Hoarding Turned Over To Ocean County
• Missing-Pet Pleas Pour In To Police In Brick Hoarding Case
• Collie Taken By Brick Hoarders Reunited With Family
• Bloodhound Found In Brick Hoarding Case Reunited With Tennessee Family
• Women In Brick Hoarding Case Want 7 'Personal' Dogs Returned: Reports
• Brick Hoarding Case: Prosecutor Says Women Demanded Dogs From Shelter
• Women In Brick Hoarding Case To Remain Free Until Trial, Judge Rules

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