Youth Ordered to Stand Trial in Shooting

After hearing testimony that the teen-age defendant had confessed, a judge Tuesday ordered an Oxnard youth to stand trial on charges stemming from the shooting of a Westlake restaurant owner last month.

Rady Doria, 17, is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on April 25 to have a trial date set. He remains in Juvenile Hall with bail set at $20,000.

During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Sheriff’s Detective Joseph H. Braga testified that Doria confessed that he and Henry Mabalot, 20, of Oxnard went to Thousand Oaks on March 3 to rob someone. Braga said Doria told him they chose as their victim Moez Megji, 35, of Calabasas, after spotting him outside his business at Fin’s Seafood Grill on Westlake Boulevard.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim G. Gibbons said Megji testified that a gunman confronted him and demanded money, then almost immediately shot him. Megji said the shooter got into the passenger side of a waiting car, and he chased the vehicle in his car until more shots were fired at him.

Gibbons said Mabalot was the shooter and he has pleaded guilty to one count of assault. He could face 14 years in prison when he is sentenced in June.

Doria was the driver of the car, Gibbons said. He is charged with assault, attempted robbery and shooting at an occupied vehicle.

Megji was unable to identify the shooter or the driver, but both defendants confessed their roles to detectives, Gibbons said.

Doria is being prosecuted as an adult.