Mr. Ceccarelli plead guilty to animal cruelty.

April 15, 2009
On March 18, 2009  Mr. Ceccarelli of Toms River was taking his step daughter’s two cats to the Ocean County Animal Shelter but during the trip he just pulled off to the side of the road, in a wooded area in Manchester, NJ and abandoned two de-clawed domesticated cats there.  Upon learning of the fate of the cats, the step daughter and mother organized search parties and were able to rescue one cat but the other cat, Pumpkin, is still missing.
On April 15, 2009 Mr. Dominick Ceccarelli of Toms River plead guilty to one criminal charge 4:22-17A3 for failing to provide a living creature with proper shelter and a civil charge of 4:22-26C for failure to provide a living creature with proper shelter. Mr. Ceccarelli indicated to the court that he had lost his job and was attending stress management classes.  As part of his plea agreement he was to pay fines and restitution totaling $3000 and court costs of $132.  Each count plead to carried a fine of $650, $100 in restitution and $33 in court costs.

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