Ocean County Prosecutor: Animal hoarding suspects must go back to jail

TOMS RIVER - The Ocean Prosecutor’s Office wants to send two suspected animal hoarders back to jail after authorities said the pair showed up at the county’s shelter in Stafford on Thursday to demand the return of their dogs.

Aimee Lonczak, 49, and Michele Nycz, 58, both of Brick, were arrested and charged last month with animal cruelty and endangering the welfare of a child. After a detention hearing on Dec. 8, state Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels released Lonczak and Nycz from the Ocean County Jail. One of the conditions of their release was that they were to have no contact with animals pending trial.

In a statement on Friday, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said his office has now filed motions to revoke the pretrial release of Lonczak and Nycz, saying they have violated multiple conditions of that release.

The motion comes after the Brick Police Department was contacted by management of the Southern Ocean County Animal Facility in Stafford, to report that Lonczak and Nycz had been at the shelter and were demanding the return of their dogs, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

The shelter refused to turn over the dogs to the defendants, the statement said.

Related: 'Crusted in feces': Brick animal hoarding suspects out of jail after tales of home filth

Additionally, Daniels had ordered that Lonczak have no contact with her 16-year-old daughter unless authorized by the state Department of Children and Families and the Family Division of the Superior Court. A week before they showed up at the shelter, Nycz had attempted to have that no-contact order lifted but was unsuccessful. The appeal was denied by Judge Linda G. Baxter on Jan. 10.

Nevertheless, when Lonczak and Nycz showed up at the county’s animal shelter on Thursday, they were accompanied by the teen, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

“The actions of the defendants on Jan. 19, 2023 violate the pretrial release conditions imposed by Judge Daniels on Dec. 8, 2022,” Billhimer said. “As such, we have filed motions to revoke the pretrial release of both Lonczak and Nycz. Based on their actions yesterday, we will be requesting that these defendants be detained pending trial.”

How we got here: 180 animals found living in 'horrible' conditions when Brick police bust alleged puppy mill

The case began when an officer from the Brick Police Department went to their Arrowhead Park Drive home on Dec. 2 in response to an anonymous tip from a neighbor that the pair were housing dozens of animals inside.

While on the driveway, the officer could smell an “overwhelming odor of urine, feces and even some noxious fumes” coming from inside the house while the officer observed that trash littered the outside of the residence.

Alexander Becker, an assistant Ocean County prosecutor, told the court on Dec. 8 that inside the house there were 182 animals — 135 dogs, 45 cats and two dead puppies — as well as Lonczak’s developmentally disabled 16-year-old daughter.

Becker said the animals were crowded in cages and “crusted in feces, not covered, crusted in feces.”

The encrustation was so bad that officers not only couldn’t tell the breed or sex of the animals, they couldn’t decipher their color, Becker said.

A hazmat team was called to the scene to remove the animals from the residence.

There were “three inches of feces throughout the entire floor of the home, not just the cages, but throughout the whole household,” the assistant prosecutor explained.

Lonczak’s 16-year-old daughter was “living in filth and squalor for months,” and was ridiculed at school because “she reeked of urine and feces,” Becker said.

“For the 182 animals who cannot speak for themselves and for her own daughter who cannot speak for herself, the state implores that this defendant remain in custody until the time of trial,” Becker argued at the detention hearing for Lonczak in December. He repeated the argument at Nycz’s detention hearing immediately after.

Becker said both women could face 182 separate counts of animal cruelty — one for each of the animals — once the case is presented to a grand jury.

If convicted, the pair could spend the rest of their lives in a state prison.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Brick NJ animal hoarding suspects must go back to jail