Margie Fishman

The News Journal

A convicted New Jersey cat killer has since moved to Dover, where he adopted at least five cats off Craigslist, according to the animals' former owners and an animal cruelty investigator familiar with the case.

Now, the cats are nowhere to be found, and animal advocates want answers from the state Office of Animal Welfare about 58-year-old Anthony Appolonia.

In neighboring New Jersey, Appolonia received the maximum punishment of five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of animal cruelty in 2008. He admitted to investigators that he had tortured and killed 19 kittens and cats, which he had obtained through newspaper ads. In graphic detail, he described how he stomped on them, broke their bones and slammed them against walls before drowning them.

Following his release, Appolonia began renting a townhome near Dover Air Force Base. Beginning last summer, he responded to Craigslist ads for free cats and kittens in Delaware using either his real name or aliases, according to statements from six residents who say they gave him felines.

Appolonia is barred from owning any animals or being in the presence of cats without supervision in New Jersey, under the terms of his sentence. But nothing in Delaware law prohibits him or anyone else who committed animal cruelty in another state from owning animals here.

Stuart Goldman, the former New Jersey SPCA investigator who played a key role in putting Appolonia behind bars, recently forwarded those statements and his assessment of the case to Gov. Jack Markell and Attorney General Matt Denn, urging the state's chief law enforcement officer to speed up the investigation into Appolonia in response to resident complaints dating to January. A Denn spokesman said that his office had received the documents from Goldman and confirmed an investigation, but declined further comment. Goldman and Denn were first alerted to the case after NJ Advance Media reported earlier this month that Appolonia was allegedly collecting cats in Dover.

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Goldman is a former chief of the nonprofit Monmouth County SPCA and former chief training officer for the New Jersey SPCA who has conducted more than 2,000 animal cruelty investigations. While SPCAs in New Jersey are private nonprofits, they do have enforcement authority in animal cruelty cases.

Since leaving the SPCA in 2004, Goldman has volunteered his time investigating animal cruelty complaints.

Neither Appolonia nor his family members in New Jersey responded to a request for comment.

Appolonia's landlord, Richard Bell, said Appolonia was honest with him about his criminal past when he moved in last year. Appolonia is prohibited from having pets on the property, according to a lease agreement that Bell enforces through random monthly visits. Bell said he has never seen evidence of animals.

A recent visit to Appolonia's home found closed blinds, unruly grass and a FedEx delivery notice taped to a locked storm door. Also attached to the door was the business card of Capt. Reed Jones, a state animal welfare officer.

In a previous interview with NJ Advance Media, Appolonia denied accepting cats in Delaware. The reporter, who was invited to look inside Appolonia's home, found no evidence of animals.

Similarly, Appolonia's next-door neighbor, Dexter Joseph, said he hasn't heard animal sounds coming from the property.

A flight simulator technician who shares his home with his wife, adult son and several life-size stuffed animals, Joseph used to give Appolonia rides to the grocery store until he found out about his past.

"It makes me uncomfortable," Joseph said, explaining that his granddaughter visits his home with her puppy.

The Attorney General's Office has referred the matter to the Office of Animal Welfare. Like other enforcement agencies, the animal welfare agency is charged with investigating and making arrests, AG spokesman Carl Kanefsky said. "Our office would be responsible for the prosecution."

Animal Welfare Director Hetti Brown declined to comment about Appolonia, citing the ongoing investigation.

In a previous interview with NJ Advance Media, Mark Tobin, who runs Delaware's animal welfare's enforcement bureau, said the state's investigation launched early this year but had been delayed after an investigator was injured on the job.

That leaves James Waite still searching for answers.

The Harrington resident said he delivered his 2-year-old cat, Tony, to Appolonia's home after connecting with him on Craigslist's pet section.

Waite decided to part with his black-and-white calico last summer after he and his girlfriend had a baby. The couple spent an hour with Appolonia and nothing seemed amiss, he recalled. The next day, Appolonia called to say Tony was adjusting nicely.

"He stopped calling, and we just thought everything was good," Waite said.

Soon after, the couple saw a photograph of Appolonia on Craigslist with a warning: "Do not give this man your cats!"

They called Appolonia repeatedly and banged on his front door. "It was gut-wrenching," Waite recalled. "Tony was the nicest cat."

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Waite said he reached out to the local SPCA, Dover Police, Delaware State Police and the Office of Animal Welfare for assistance but was bounced around among the agencies. The Office of Animal Welfare never called him back, he said.

Other former cat owners provided written statements to Goldman but did not respond to a request for comment from The News Journal.

Alicia Dobies wrote that she met with Appolonia at a Dover McDonald's in October to give him her cat, Harley, who was sweet but skittish around kids and other cats.

"He started talking about how his therapist thought it was a good idea to have a grown cat to help with his anxiety," Dobies wrote.

Myra Hitchens explained how she gave Appolonia two kittens at a Smyrna rest area. As she tried to put one in a carrier for him, "he pushed my hand away and said I'm going to play with them until the bus comes," she wrote.

Tammy Elliott, of Lincoln, rehomed her orange tabby with Appolonia. Three days after meeting the cat, Appolonia told Elliot she was "too skittish" and that he had given the animal to a woman and her young daughter. He then asked Elliott for help in finding "a more lovable lap cat."

"He was very persistent to the point of being a nuisance," Elliott wrote, "so I stopped answering his calls and eventually he stopped calling."

Delaware, like most other states, does not maintain an animal abuser registry for the public to look up offenders. Just this year, the FBI began tracking animal cruelty crimes through its National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Animal protection agencies urge people trying to rehome animals to effectively screen potential adopters and charge fees.

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.