Kelly House cat hoarder convicted of animal cruelty

The elderly woman who hoarded cats in the childhood home of Grace Kelly pleaded no contest to animal-cruelty charges on Thursday, according to a report from NewsWorks content partner NBC10.

Police and the SPCA responded to the home, on Henry Avenue at Coulter St. in East Falls, last Halloween. Inside, investigators found 14 living cats and one deceased feline when they arrived with a warrant based on complaints to its cruelty hotline.

“Fleas, feces everywhere inside,” said George Bengal, director of humane law enforcement for the Pennsylvania SPCA, of the scene inside a home Bamont owned since 1973.

At a December summary trial, 82-year-old Marjorie Bamont was found guilty in absentia for the mistreatment of the animals.

Bamont’s attorneys – who chalked the absence up to illness and a clerical oversight – told NewsWorks after the trial that an appeal would be filed. It was, but Bamont pleaded no contest Thursday rather than continue fighting the conviction, an SPCA spokeswoman told the Inquirer.