An Irvine dog trainer who operated Happy K9 Academy was convicted of killing 11 dogs by keeping them in small crates in a hot van and lying to the pets’ owners about the deaths, authorities said.
The trainer, Kwong (Tony) Chun Sit, 54, was convicted on 11 felony counts of animal cruelty, seven misdemeanor counts of attempting to destroy evidence and one misdemeanor count of destroying evidence, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a press release. Sit faces a maximum sentence of 13 years and 11 months in prison, authorities said.
His girlfriend, Tingfeng Liu, 24, of Vista, an accused accomplice in the killings of the dogs, was convicted on one felony count of accessory to a felony, one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence, and two misdemeanor counts of attempted destruction of evidence, according to the district attorney’s office. Liu faces up to four years in prison.
Since their arrests, the defendants have remained in custody on $500,000 bail after prosecutors said Sit and Liu were “packed and ready to flee when they were arrested last June.”
The convictions come after authorities connected the couple to the deaths of 11 dogs that the couple took in for training services.
One of the victim’s owners tipped off authorities a day before the couple’s arrest. They said they’d received a message from the trainer saying their dog had died in its sleep and been cremated.
“The one family reached out to us [and] thought it was kind of suspicious that their healthy dog died with this trainer,” Irvine police spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp told The Times in a report last year.
In one of those texts to the victims, Sit reportedly wrote: “I’m so sorry to let you know that Miko passed away peacefully during the night while resting. There were no signs of pain or struggle, and it was truly unexpected. I am deeply saddened by this loss.”
The investigation found the deaths occurred when Sit kept the animals in small crates in a hot van, where they died of heat stroke. At least one of the dogs died due to blunt force trauma. In an effort to conceal the causes of death, Sit impersonated the owners and had the dogs cremated, according to prosecutors.
K9 Academy promoted dog training services, including one to four-week training sessions, which ranged from $999 to $3,999.
“The greatest fear dogs have is that you will never return when you leave them behind, and because of the unbelievably cruel actions of Mr. Sit and Ms. Liu, that fear became a tragic reality for 11 dogs who will never have the chance to reunite with their families,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.
Times staff writer Jasmine Mendez contributed to this report.
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