The Erie Times-News reports 32-year-old Christopher J. Bisbee pleaded guilty Monday to a second-degree misdemeanor of cruelty to animals and faces up to two years in prison when he's sentenced Oct. 7.

The Erie man applied for a first-offenders program that would have placed him on probation without a guilty plea, but was rejected.

A Humane Society officer acting on a tip found the cat carcasses in Bisbee's garbage in June 2013. Several people at Bisbee's residence implicated him before police say he confessed.

Defense attorney Stephen Sebald says Bisbee has "proactively sought mental health counseling" and a report from that doctor will be forwarded to the court before he's sentenced.

—The Associated Press contributed