LOS ANGELES -- Two men accused of posing as prospective buyers and then taking three Yorkshire terrier puppies and an adult dog at gunpoint from the owners' Wilshire-area home were ordered to stand trial Tuesday on multiple felony counts.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William N. Sterling ordered 23-year-old Troy Cabral and 19-year-old Ryan Jason Betton to be arraigned May 15 on nine felony counts, despite defense attorneys' assertions that the evidence against their clients was insufficient.
"There isn't enough evidence for the court to determine if it was a real firearm," James P. Cooper III, who represents Cabral, told the judge.
Sterling denied the motion to dismiss, contending that under the circumstances "a reasonable person would entertain a strong suspicion that it was a real gun."
A surveillance camera inside the victims' home caught the assailants during the alleged home invasion robbery Feb. 23. One man can be seen wearing a white ball cap in a doorway and aiming what appears to be a gun as family members are on the floor.
Another man scrambles around the living room for about 40 seconds as he tries to nab the four dogs -- one of which was especially elusive -- and then stashes them, one by one, in black plastic bags.
A Los Angeles police detective identified Cabral as the man in the white cap, who is seen in a photograph taken by another surveillance camera outside the home, according to Deputy District Attorney Kenneth Loveman.
"The IDs were pretty weak," Cooper said after the hearing. "And there's no evidence a real gun was used. The picture doesn't have the resolution to allow detectives ... (to identify the suspects). The faces aren't very clear."
The gun has never been found, Loveman said.
Cabral and Betton are both charged with four counts each of first-degree residential robbery and grand theft of a dog valued at more than $400, along with one count of first-degree burglary with a person present.
Cabral is also facing a gun enhancement charging that he personally used a handgun during commission of the crime.
The alleged victims were confronted at their home in the 200 block of North Manhattan Place by two men responding to an ad offering the puppies for sale at $2,500 each, authorities said.
The puppies and the family's adult dog, Tan-ja, were recovered and reunited with the family.
The dogs, Loveman said, "are fine as far as I know."
The men remain free on $100,000 bail.
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