CALIFORNIA -- Three people arrested in connection with a May 21 dog attack on a Palermo woman appeared in court Thursday.
Butte County Superior Court Judge Kristen Lucena appointed attorneys to represent Ruben Daniel Cambra, 32, of Oroville, and Theodore Jason Scherbensky, 55, of Oroville, according to deputy district attorney Kennedy Rizzuto.
Co-defendant Chic Gordon, 54, of Palermo, told the court she had sufficient funds to hire her own attorney and asked for two weeks to do so.
Cambra and Gordon are each charged with a felony count of allowing a vicious animal at large for the incident where two dogs — a 70-pound pit bull named Gus and a 45-pound Queensland heeler named Shane — attacked a 68-year-old woman.
Scherbensky was charged with a felony count of being an accessory after the fact for allegedly removing the pit bull from the scene to conceal it from authorities.
Prosecutors have said Gus and Shane came over the woman's fence and attacked her while she was doing yard work. The woman told her 8-year-old great-grandson to return to the house and call for help.
Both of the woman's legs were broken and her left calf was severely shredded.
Following the incident, arrest warrants were issued for the three.
District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Thursday that investigators from his office and Animal Control officers arrested Scherbensky at his business and took Gordon into custody when she arrived on the scene. Officers arrested Cambra at his residence after a short struggle.
The dogs in the case are set to be euthanized. The animals were declared vicious following a July 2 court trial and prosecutors said they don't intend to retain the dogs as evidence.
However, online court records indicate the defendants have appealed the decision and a new court trial has been set for Monday.
A preliminary hearing date for the three may be set during a hearing on Aug. 9.
The defendants are out of custody on bail. They have been ordered to stay away from the victim and the great-grandson.
(Chico Enterprise-Record - July 27, 2012)
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