Two dog trainers from Acton have pleaded no contest for abusing 26 dogs under their care, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Junior Barillas Morales, 28, and Natasha Elena Ahmad, 25, both entered the plea May 31 to one felony count of animal cruelty.
Additionally, Morales pleaded to two additional felony counts of animal cruelty, one felony count of child abuse and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty.
Deputy District Attorney Amarilla Blondia said defendant Morales was immediately sentenced to five years in state prison.
Ahmad was sentenced to six months in jail, five years of formal probation, 45 days community labor, animal neglect classes and additional conditions imposed by the court including a prohibition on owning or possessing any animals for 10 years.
The defendants also agreed to make a $10,000 payment toward an undetermined amount of restitution.
According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, the defendants operated a dog training business located in Acton called Real Deal K-9’s. Customers of the business allege they paid thousands of dollars and received very sick, thin dogs.
On Feb. 7, 2017, three very thin dogs were discovered by neighbors, according to evidence presented at the preliminary hearing. A subsequent investigation uncovered two deceased dogs and eight additional dogs in the defendant’s property. One of the live dogs had to have a leg amputated due to an untreated infection, the prosecutor said.
On May 2, 2017, investigators searching the defendants’ home allegedly found a loaded gun in a sofa where the couple’s three children, ages 1, 4, and 7, could find it, the prosecutor added. The home was extremely dirty and a total of 24 dogs were seized during that search, according to court testimony.
Case MA071159 was investigated by the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation and the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control.
Two Acton dog trainers pleaded not guilty this week to animal cruelty charges, according to officials. Junior Barillas Morales, 27, and Natasha Elena Ahmad, 24, were arraigned Thursday and are scheduled back for a pretrial hearing on August 25 in Department A17 of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Antelope…
A former Palmdale Unified School District assistant superintendent pleaded no contest Tuesday to animal abuse charges after 19 pit bulls recovered from her home had to be euthanized.
A Valencia man was sentenced Wednesday to one year in county jail for taping a cat’s paws together.
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Piece of craps . People that think they are above animals and want to feel like they are rulers of dogs . You are nothing but crap . You don’t even deserve to live . Treating a animal like this and hurting someone that can’t talk . And the other person is for child abuse too . WTF
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![Real Deal K9](="https://scvnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Real-Deal-K-9s-556x373.jpg")
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12 Comments
Jeanette Portocarrero
Kim Tortorici
?
Kim Tortorici wtf is going on in that town
I don’t know…
Its scary to think people trusted their dogs with these losers…..
Piece of craps . People that think they are above animals and want to feel like they are rulers of dogs . You are nothing but crap . You don’t even deserve to live . Treating a animal like this and hurting someone that can’t talk . And the other person is for child abuse too . WTF
So glad you got them! ????
Hammer smash face to these pos’.
Jeff, don’t call them animals. that’s an insult to animals! Poor babies.
FYI if anybody is beating my cat I will shot them just like the lady in Houston did!
MFs!!!!
So so mad. I never thought a called “trainer” could hurt a dog. They already got a place in Hell!!!