Local News in Brief : Dogs’ Owner Sentenced
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A woman who pleaded no contest to charges stemming from an attack by her two rottweiler dogs was barred from owning any animal for three years.
Eileen Frances Benyo, 23, was also placed on three years’ informal probation and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and to contribute $1,000 to the Seeing Eye Dog Foundation.
She was further ordered to pay restitution to Brentwood internist Dr. Jerome Helman, 46, who suffered multiple bites during a 15-minute attack by Benyo’s two dogs last July.
Benyo was sentenced Wednesday by West Los Angeles Municipal Judge Richard Neidorf after pleading no contest to six violations of a municipal code section that prohibits permitting an animal to be at large.
The dogs’ other owner, Robert M. Hart, 30, had fled after charges were filed in the case last September, but he was arrested by Santa Monica police last Friday as a robbery suspect.
Hart faces prosecution for attacks by the rottweilers on four men, including Helman, last July 23, plus six other incidents involving the dogs.
The dogs were impounded by the city Animal Regulation Department after the assaults.
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