Toms River Woman Sentenced For Animal Cruelty
A Body Has Been Retrieved from the Ocean off the Jersey Shore
October 15, 2021
Cattus Island County Park
October 16, 2021Toms River Woman Sentenced For Animal Cruelty
Toms River Woman Sentenced For Animal Cruelty
Allissa DeStefano, 30, must serve two years of probation and cannot own any animals ever again.
As a consequence of a previously filed guilty plea to Animal Cruelty, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that Allissa DeStefano, 30, of Toms River, was sentenced to a two-year term of probation by the Honorable Rochelle Gizinski, J.S.C. on October 15, 2021.
DeStefano was sentenced to 60 days of community service and was also barred from possessing animals for the rest of her life. As a requirement of probation, the State contended that DeStefano should serve 364 days in the Ocean County Jail. On July 23, 2021, DeStefano pled guilty to the accusation in front of Judge Gizinski.
The Lacey Township Police Department responded to a residence in Lacey Township during the overnight hours of November 11, 2019, for a report that pets had likely been abandoned in the residence. Officers arrived to find that the house had been abandoned and that the carcasses of three dogs had been uncovered.
Detectives from the Lacey Township Police Department and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Animal Cruelty Squad conducted an investigation and discovered that DeStefano was responsible for the dogs' care and had abandoned them in the residence, resulting in their death. DeStefano was detained and processed at the Lacey Township Police Department without incident. She was released on a summons to appear in court at a later date.Assistant Prosecutor Kimberly Carr, who handled the case on behalf of the State, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Animal Cruelty Squad and the Lacey Township Police Department, were recognized by Prosecutor Billhimer for their collaborative efforts in connection with this investigation, which led to DeStefano's guilty plea and today's sentence.
