NORTHRIDGE : Woman to Stand Trial in Cat-Selling Swindle
A Northridge woman was ordered to stand trial Tuesday on theft and animal cruelty charges after a Van Nuys judge heard alleged victims testify that they paid her hundreds of dollars for purebred kittens that were common house cats.
After a two-day preliminary hearing, Municipal Judge Robert L. Swasey ordered Jaie Brashar, 46, to stand trial on seven charges of grand theft, five charges of petty theft, one charge of cruelty to animals and one charge of attempted grand theft.
Swasey dismissed seven other charges after two victims could not be located to testify.
Brashar was arrested in February after numerous people who answered newspaper advertisements for pedigreed kittens complained to police and animal control officers that the cats they purchased were not purebred and many were in ill health.
Brashar could face as much as six years in prison if convicted.
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