OAKLAND — Within a 24-hour span, three authority figures in uniform here were attacked by the same two attack dogs, and now the law is attempting to hold him responsible for the alleged sins of his animals.
Rafael Rivas, a 38-year-old Oakland resident and the owner of two “vicious” attack dogs, has been charged with four felonies in connection with two January dog attacks, court records say. Rivas faces three counts of failure to control a dangerous animal, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon — the “deadly weapon” in question being his dogs — after he allegedly ordered the canines to attack a security guard at a local store, and they obeyed.
Rivas’ legal problems started on the evening of Jan. 13, outside the Grocery Outlet on Broadway in Oakland. It was there that he allegedly ordered the dogs to bite security guards on the premises. They allegedly singled out one security officer and bit him repeatedly, requiring “emergency medical attention” for puncture wounds to his finger and leg, police said in court records.
The next attack Rivas is being charged with occurred when he was in no position to physically stop the dogs. He was allegedly handcuffed, in the back of an OPD squad car, when the animals sprung loose from restraints and attacked police.
That incident occurred the very next day after the security guard attack, when Oakland cops spotted Rivas in another part of town. They detained him, but then his dogs attacked the police, biting Officer Vern Saechao in the arm and Sgt. Colin Cameron in the leg. Both victims required emergency medical attention and stitches, authorities said.
Police haven’d disclosed the dogs’ breeds or said whether the animals were euthanized, as is typical for dogs who attack and injure people during alleged crimes.
This is hardly Rivas’ first brush with the law. He has a pending case from last year alleging he threatened someone. In 2023, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for “lewd conduct” in public, and corresponding indecent exposure charge against him was dropped, according to court records.
He remains jailed in lieu of $60,000 bail, according to the inmate log at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
At a court appearance last week, Rivas attempted to show a judge evidence that he claimed would help vindicate him, but the judge refused to allow it, according to court records. Rivas was due again in court on Friday for a preliminary hearing but his lawyer attempted to put it off, arguing that police hadn’t yet provided body worn camera footage that is necessary to help the defense prepare for the key court proceeding.
A case involving charges of failure to control a dangerous animal is relatively rare, but lats year prosecutors in Alameda County filed such a case against 58-year-old Brendan Burke, whose dogs attacked and killed a childhood friend, Robert Holguin, last year. In that case, Burke had attempted to get rid of his dogs because he believed they were too dangerous, and they broke out of his backyard and pinned Holguin underneath a vehicle.