A 22-year-old San Pedro man has been charged with drugging and having sex with an 80-pound Akita in the owner’s backyard.

Christopher Caceres pleaded not guilty Monday to felony animal cruelty to an animal, burglary and misdemeanor sexual assault of an animal. He was arrested after the Akita’s homeowner saw Caceres on video allegedly assaulting the family dog after installing security cameras focused on the yard, the Daily Breeze reported.

The homeowner feared a prowler had been trying to break into his house in recent months after he found a cellphone in the yard and heard unexplained wails from his dog in the middle of the night, only to find nothing when he investigated.

After the cameras were installed, the homeowner found what he told the Daily Breeze he believed to be the source of his worries: Caceres on video allegedly drugging the dog before sexually assaulting it over two hours in the middle of the night.


“It was unimaginable to me,” the owner told the Breeze. “For it to go on that long was heart-wrenching.”

Caceres is scheduled to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court for a hearing next week. He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

[For the Record 12:30 p.m. PST, Nov. 19: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified sexual assault on an animal as a felony.]

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Joseph.serna@latimes.com


Twitter: @josephserna