Crates of Animals Were 'Stacked on Top of One Another,' Sending Self-Styled 'Crazy Rescue Ladies' to Jail

The two women pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty in June 2024

Two New Jersey women were sentenced to nearly a year behind bars after keeping approximately 180 dogs and cats in “unsanitary conditions” in their home.

Judge Guy P. Ryan sentenced Michele Nycz, 60, and Aimee Lonczak, 51, to 364 days in Ocean County Jail as a condition of a four-year probationary term, on Friday, Aug. 16, according to a press release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The pair are also prohibited from owning any animals for the rest of their lives and working with animals, even through community service.

Nycz and Lonczak pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty in June 2024 in connection with an investigation in Brick Township that began in December 2022. Lonczak also pleaded guilty to child neglect in “connection with the same investigation,” per the release.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the Brick Township Police Department received a report to investigate “an anonymous complaint” about Nycz and Lonczak“running a puppy mill” out of their home. When officers went to the home to talk to them, they “detected a strong odor coming from the residence and heard barking.”

The officers were “permitted” to enter the home and upon entering the premises, “detected an intense odor and unsanitary conditions.” They also found “animal crates containing dogs and cats stacked on top of one another.”

“Due to the conditions existing in the home at that time, the officers were forced to exit the residence and requested that a Hazmat team respond,” a press release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office read.

Rescuers in hazmat suits eventually entered the home and removed “approximately 129 dogs and 43 cats” that had been living in the residence, along with two dead dogs.

Lonczak and Nycz were “taken into custody at the scene without incident and transported to the Ocean County Jail” before they were released on bail. It was determined that the two women lived in the home.

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According to the Daily Voice and local radio station New Jersey 101.5, Lonczak and Nycz ran a social media page dubbing themselves the "Crazy Rescue Ladies." In their social media biography, they described their organization as a "responsible rescue” that saves “injured, unwanted street animals,” and takes in dogs from several states including Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

Some of the animals rescued from the home were nursed back to health and placed for adoption, according to the outlets. 

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