BELLWOOD — A 68-year-old central Pennsylvania man pepper sprayed his wife after she brought home a kitten because he had told her he was allergic to cats, the man’s attorney said Friday.

Attorney Theodore Krol said his client, Dale Stehley of Bellwood, knows what he did was wrong and hopes to resolve his criminal charges through a first-offender program that will enable him to have his record expunged if he serves probation.

Krol said his client, a retired 35-year veteran of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, has never been in trouble before and knows his actions were “inappropriate.” But Krol said Stehley “is allergic to animals and did tell his wife that she could not have a kitten” before she got one anyway.

“He knows his reactions were over the top in relation to this animal,” Krol said.