Two brothers face charges after boy is injured in dog mauling

Two brothers are facing assault charges after authorities said a dog mauling in Westbury left a 9-year-old boy severely injured while walking home from school in January.

The Jan. 27 attack by the unleashed pit bull mix resulted in wounds to both of the boy’s legs and an arm, Nassau prosecutors said Wednesday.

Authorities didn’t identify the victim but said he nearly died and still is recuperating after leg surgery.

Cesar Cuellar, 27, of East Meadow, and Anthony Villalta, 19, of Westbury pleaded not guilty at their Nassau County Court arraignment.

Prosecutors said a grand jury indicted the defendants on a felony charge of reckless assault and misdemeanor counts of assault and reckless endangerment.

Authorities said the brothers face up to 2 to 7 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. A judge released them on their own recognizance.

A second dog of a mixed breed also was unleashed and barking and biting at the victim’s older brother during the mauling on Wilson Avenue, according to prosecutors. They said two passers-by helped drive back the dogs and put the 9-year-old in a vehicle until first responders arrived.

The dogs ran away and a neighbor corralled them, according to authorities, who said the attack began after the dogs got loose from a yard where Villalta had left them.

Prosecutors said both defendants were custodians of the dogs at the time, and knew the pit bull mix had separately attacked two dogs and a person in the three months before the mauling.

Cuellar’s attorney, Jeffrey Groder, said his client worked as an electrician’s apprentice and the facts would show “there is no criminal liability on the part of my client.”

Villalta’s attorney, Patrick Kauffman, said his client had no criminal record and what happened was “a very horrible accident.”