Michelline Joy Toulouse appears inset against an image of her apartment where several dozen cats were found abandoned, starving, and dead in May 2021. (Broward County Corrections; Screengrab via WSVN)
A Florida woman who locked away 63 cats in a dizzying state of neglect and filth will now spend several years behind bars.
Michelline Joy Toulouse, 39, pleaded no contest to 12 charges of aggravated animal cruelty in September. On Wednesday, after hours of testimony, she was sentenced to three years in state prison to be followed by 10 years of probation to deal with mental health and drug issues. The court also sentenced her to 500 hours of community service with a trash cleanup organization. And, she will be barred from owning animals for the duration of her time under state supervision, according to the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
Toulouse was, at one time, facing up to 60 years in prison.
During her sentencing, Broward County Circuit Judge Ari Abraham Porth took the defendant to task for the horrific treatment meted out to the dozens of homeless cats she once volunteered to help.
“These poor animals suffered painful and torturous deaths,” he said, according to a courtroom report by Miami-based Fox affiliate WSVN. “You let them live and die in the most untenable horrific squalor.”
In late May 2021, police responded to an apartment on Northwest 94th Avenue in Sunrise — a large city in the Miami metro area — after neighbors complained about an awful and telltale stench.
Inside, the 63 hoarded and emaciated felines, both living and dead, were discovered in what some animal welfare advocates would term the worst case of animal cruelty in Broward County.
“You can open the door about this much, and all you saw were little paws just desperate,” Saving Sage Animal Rescue Foundation spokesperson Gina Vlasek told WSVN at the time of the discovery — using both hands in a gesture to signify just a few inches of space. “As we started to walk through the property, it was just the most horrific thing that you could ever imagine. No food, there was urine in the water bowls and at least one of the cats died within the last 12 hours and was eaten halfway down. I still can’t process what I saw.”
At least nine of the cats were found dead. Dozens more were rescued over multiple days — the initial numbers unclear due to the state of Toulouse’s long-abandoned apartment.
“There was no ‘clean’ area inside the residence in any room for the cats to not be in contact with their feces,” Sunrise police wrote in the initial report about the flea-ridden, infection-spawning residence.
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In June 2021, while investigators were still poring over the conditions inside her apartment, Toulouse was charged with theft after being accused of stealing $300 from Saving Sage during a volunteer shift. She was arrested on animal cruelty charges three months later.
Another one of the defendant’s former colleagues testified during her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, WSVN reported.
“She was my friend, who I treated like a daughter. I loved and supported her and would have done anything to help,” Saving Sage Vice President Kathy Bieniek said, reading from a victim impact statement. “To witness her manipulate and gaslight me and accuse me of planting these cats really changed my outlook on everything.”
Bieniek also spoke with WSVN after the sentencing — saying that she found the result favorable under the circumstances.
“I am so happy that these cats finally have their justice because they deserve so much more than what she gave them,” she said.
Under the terms of her punishment, Toulouse is not allowed any contact with any Saving Sage member or volunteer. She will also be expected to pay the group an undetermined amount in restitution.
A spokesperson for the state attorney’s office told Law&Crime that there was no plea deal reached in the case. Instead, the defense was allowed to argue for a downward sentencing departure.
The defendant, for her part, cried on the stand, according to a courtroom report by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Asking the court for leniency, the defendant reportedly hyperventilated when prosecutors showed image after image of the cats impacted by her cruelty. She also insisted she only left the cats alone for 11 days.
“This is upsetting to you?” Broward Assistant State Attorney Lindsay Carrier asked. “Imagine what it was like for them.”
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