Charges Against 2 Gang Members Dropped by D.A. : Accusations: Prosecutors say that a Sherman Oaks junior high girl, now 13, had fabricated at least part of her story accusing the pair of kidnaping and raping her.

Prosecutors dropped charges Friday against two Van Nuys gang members accused of kidnaping, drugging and raping a 12-year-old girl after determining that she had fabricated part or all of her story.

In testimony at a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court in December, the young girl had wept repeatedly but clung to her story during a three-hour cross-examination by defense attorneys.

She said that Jose Puebla, 19, and Luis Guzman, 20, abducted her outside Robert A. Millikan Junior High School in Sherman Oaks on Nov. 22, took her to an apartment where they forced her to drink something that made her unconscious, and then took turns raping her.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said prosecutors decided to drop the charges because the girl, now 13, “recently recanted part of her testimony. She admits she made up the part about drugs, although she insists the rest of her story is true.”

But after recently completed laboratory tests found no physical evidence of sexual activity, prosecutors concluded it is “highly unlikely” there was any sexual activity and elected to dismiss the case, Samuels said.

Samuels declined to speculate on what prompted the girl to fabricate parts of her story, but defense attorneys argued in December that she made it up to avoid being disciplined by her mother for skipping school.

Deputy Public Defender Mitch Bruckner said the case illustrates that “not all who claim to be victims of a crime ought to be believed blindly.”

If the case had gone to a jury trial, Bruckner, who represents Puebla, said he was “fearful that jurors might have convicted my client because she tells a very emotional story.”

He said the defendants, if convicted, “might have gone to prison for a long, long time because of the nature of the alleged offense.”

Had they been convicted, the two, described by police as longtime gang members, faced from 12 to 20 years in prison, depending on whether each offense was judged to be separate or part of a single act.

Samuels said the case “should not be used to justify disbelieving other victims. You could use the same logic to argue that if one defendant is proved guilty, then other defendants should be presumed to be guilty. That’s silly.”

Both men were jailed the day of the incident.

Puebla, who could not post $100,000 bond, remained in jail until he was released without bail on March 2 after prosecutors received preliminary lab test results.

Guzman, who was paroled by the California Department of Corrections in July, remains in custody pending a March 30 hearing to determine if his role in the incident violated terms of his parole, according to court records.

His attorney, Christopher Nance, declined to discuss the case.

At the hearing in December, Bruckner and Nance argued that Judge Michael S. Luros should not order their clients to stand trial. The attorneys focused on what they termed the girl’s “highly suspicious” claim that she twice passed out after being forced to drink a soda laced with a white powder.

The girl also said Puebla and Guzman, who she knew, and a third man she did not know then took turns raping her.

Weeping quietly, the girl said their assaults “hurt a lot” and that she did not resist because she feared she would be killed.

Although Puebla and Guzman did not testify at the hearing, police reports quote them as saying the girl voluntarily left the school and went to the apartment with them and that no sexual activity took place.