LONG BEACH >> Testimony will continue today in an animal cruelty case against a 24-year-old Long Beach man accused of returning two dead cats to a local animal shelter.

Steven Ullery was charged after his arrest Jan. 23 with four felony counts of animal cruelty by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. It’s unclear if any charges will be brought against his wife, who accompanied Ullery to the shelter, authorities say.

He was arrested after a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles conducted an investigation in August 2013. The couple had told shelter officials that the animals were “defective” and demanded a refund a month after adopting the pets, according to the advocacy organization.

Authorities discovered that the couple had brought back three additional dead cats to the Uptown Animal Hospital in Long Beach in March and May 2013. One of the cats died from blunt force trauma to the face. Another was choked to dead, according to information from prosecutors.

“The state of California and (authorities) take these cases very seriously,” said Madeline Bernstein, spcaLA president, in a statement. “It’s part of a cycle of violence.”

Bernstein said cases in which pet owners bring in dead or neglected pets are “not unusual.”

Ullery is released on $60,000 bail, pending the outcome of trial. If convicted as charged, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in county jail.

Contact Greg Yee at 562-499-1476.