Animal Cruelty Charged Against Howell Man In Killing Of Pet Cat

FREEHOLD, NJ – A Howell man has been charged with intentionally killing his pet cat named Lilith, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Tuesday.

Christopher Sanchez, 29, is charged with third-degree animal cruelty by unnecessarily or cruelly abusing a living animal, resulting in its death.

An investigation into Sanchez’s activities was begun Friday, March 31, when members of the Howell Township Police Department, who were dispatched to a residence for an unrelated matter, found the body of the cat outside the home, the prosecutor's office said.

Members of the Howell Township Police Department and the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Humane Law Enforcement Division conducted an investigation determining that the cat, named Lilith, had belonged to Sanchez, who is alleged to have used a sharp instrument to kill the cat two days earlier, the prosecutor's office said in a news release.

Sanchez was charged and arrested on the same day as the initial police response, then placed in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, pending a detention hearing scheduled for Monmouth County Superior Court on Wednesday, April 12.

Anyone with information about this matter is urged to contact Howell Township Police Department Patrolman Sean Heck at 732-938-4111; SPCA Chief of Humane Law Enforcement Michael Goldfarb at 732-542-0040; or SPCA Lt. Michael Magliozzo at 732-440-4538.

Convictions on criminal charges of this nature can be punishable by up to five years in state prison, the prosecutor's office said.

This case has been assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Keri-Leigh Schaefer and Sevan Biramian. Sanchez is being represented by Aaron Guttenplan.