DA: Couple left 26 cats in home after eviction

A man and woman face animal cruelty charges after they abandoned more than 26 cats in a Franklin Square rental home from which they had been evicted, the Nassau district attorney's office said Friday.

James Grimm Sr., 67, and Patricia Grimm, 64, kept an ever-growing number of unspayed and unneutered cats in the house at 15 McKinley Ave., said Carole Trottere, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

When the Grimms stopped paying their rent, the landlord contacted the Nassau County Sheriff's Department to seek help in evicting them, prosecutors said.

The Grimms left the house the night before the sheriff's apartment was set to execute the eviction orders in March, leaving the cats inside without food or water, prosecutors said. Sheriff's deputies found the cats the next morning, along with overflowing litter boxes and the stench of cat feces and urine, they said.

Some cats were living above the ceiling and in the walls, prosecutors said.

The cats were trapped and adopted, the district attorney's office said. Trottere said although the Grimms were told by police that they could claim the cats, they never did.

The Grimms, who are represented by the Legal Aid Society, pleaded not guilty Friday morning to 26 counts of animal abandonment, 26 counts of torturing and injuring animals, failure to provide proper sustenance and other charges, prosecutors said.

James Grimm faces additional charges because prosecutors say he falsely told police that his landlord had poisoned the cats.

If convicted, he faces up to 2 years in jail. Patricia Grimm faces up to 1 year in jail if convicted.

Both were released on their own recognizance. They are due back in court on Oct. 26.

"When people abandon their pets, without a care, it's more than just a shame - it's against the law," Rice said.