Dogs’ Owners Face Charges After Attack

The city attorney’s office Friday filed 31 charges, including 21 misdemeanors, against the owners of two Rottweiler dogs that attacked a jogging physician July 23 in Brentwood after allegedly terrorizing a neighborhood for months.

The charges, which followed a six-week investigation, stem from 10 separate incidents--four attacks on people, three assaults on other dogs and three instances when neighbors observed the two male Rottweilers running loose in the affluent Westside community, according to city attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls.

Robert Henderson and Eileen Frances Benyo, both of Brentwood, face 10 misdemeanor counts of permitting an animal under their control to be at large, seven counts of allowing a vicious animal to run free and two counts each of harboring unlicensed dogs and failing to obtain rabies certificates for the animals. Those charges carry maximum penalties of six months in jail and $1,000 fines.

In addition, Henderson and Benyo face 10 counts of breaking the city’s leash law, a violation that carries a $20 fine for each count.

Qualls said Henderson and Benyo are expected to surrender early next week.

Three of the attacks cited in the charges occurred on July 23, when Dr. Jerome Helmon, a 46-year-old Brentwood internist, was set upon by the dogs during his morning jog. Helmon was so badly mauled it took 4 1/2 hours of surgery and 200 stitches to close his 40 wounds.

About four hours earlier, Qualls said, neighbor Alan Toy was also attacked by the Rottweilers. Toy, who was disabled by polio as a child, said he fended the dogs off with his crutches.

Film director Daniel Petrie, who sought to come to Helmon’s aid but was repulsed by the snarling dogs, was also cited as a target of the Rottweilers. The fourth alleged victim was neighbor Joel Glass, who said he fended off the dogs’ charge July 13 while taking out the garbage.

Helmon, who is walking and has returned to his practice, said recently that he may need skin grafts on his legs because of the injuries.

The Rottweilers, which weigh between 80 and 90 pounds and reportedly cost $5,000 each, are being held at the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter.