CAT OWNER FACES 69 COUNTS OF CRUELTY.(CAPITAL REGION)

FORT EDWARD -- A woman was charged with 69 counts of animal cruelty after officials discovered her trying to dispose of 40 frozen cat and kitten carcasses while moving out of her two-bedroom apartment.

Joan Riley, 50, told Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals representatives that the cats were her babies and that she wouldn't do anything to hurt them.

SPCA officials didn't accept that explanation.

``If you have a cat and it dies, you bury it,'' SPCA Director Cathy Cloutier said. ``I wouldn't put it in a Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer.''

Riley's landlord, David Jones, called the SPCA after neighbors spotted the woman trying …