SoCal Dog trainer learns fate for trapping animals in small cages, leaving them to die

An Orange County dog trainer, accused by prosecutors of leaving 11 dogs to perish in cramped cages inside a sweltering van, received a sentence of nearly 12 years in prison on Friday.

Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit, a 54-year-old resident of Irvine, was sentenced to 11 years and 10 months in state prison, following a jury’s conviction of him on charges of animal cruelty and evidence destruction. More details.

His girlfriend, Tingfeng Liu, aged 24 and in the US on a student visa, was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in covering up the crime.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office stated, “An Irvine dog trainer was sentenced today for killing 11 dogs by keeping the animals left in his care in small crates in a hot van where they died of heatstroke and then impersonating the pets’ owners to have the dogs’ bodies cremated in an attempt to conceal how the dogs died.” Read the press release.

The statement added that Sit’s girlfriend was convicted of assisting in the cover-up as the couple delivered the dogs’ bodies to various crematoriums to avoid suspicion.

The scheme came to light when a distraught pet owner informed Irvine police after receiving a text message about their dog’s death.

Upon searching Sit’s residence, investigators discovered a van filled with dog crates that smelled of bleach, according to prosecutors.

Necropsies showed that eight of the dogs succumbed to heatstroke, one died from blunt-force trauma, and two others were cremated before the cause of death could be determined.

During the sentencing hearing, a woman told The Orange County Register, “Every single day our minds are forced to relive Saint’s final moments over and over again.”

Another owner described the death of one dog as a “tragedy” but called the deaths of so many animals an “abomination.”

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Sit, who ran Happy K9 Academy and reportedly earned around $20,000 a month, expressed remorse in court but maintained that “the dogs did not die in the van.”

He faced 19 felony charges, and both Sit and Liu have been held on $550,000 bail since their arrests.