Ramona man given year in custody for training dogs for fighting

A 35-year-old Ramona man was sentenced Thursday to a year in custody and five years' probation after pleading guilty to training dogs for fighting.

Raul Leyva, a sheet metal worker, was also ordered not to own or possess dogs during his probation.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Allan Preckel said he will permit Leyva to serve his year in custody on a work-furlough program so he can go to his job during the day but return to custody at night.

At the sentencing in the El Cajon branch of the San Diego County Superior Court, prosecutors said Leyva had been keeping pit bulls for fighting for several years. Several dogs were seized during a 2008 raid by county animal control officers; the dogs were later euthanized.

--Tony Perry in San Diego

Comments

[E. Z. Gee]

Talk about a double standard. Wade Hump-A-Dog, the 62 year old homeless man convicted of sexually violating his adopted german sheppard, got 3 years probation. Raul, the 35 year old sheet metal worker, got 1 year in jail for teaching dogs to fight. I wonder if their nationality had anything to do with the disparity in their sentences.