An Orange County dog trainer accused of leaving 11 dogs to die in overcrowded crates inside a dangerously hot van was sentenced Friday to nearly 12 years in state prison.
Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit, 54, of Irvine, received a sentence of 11 years and 10 months, weeks after a jury found him guilty of animal cruelty and destroying evidence.
Sit’s live-in girlfriend, Tingfeng Liu, 24, who was in the United States on a student visa, was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in helping conceal the deaths.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Sit killed the dogs after leaving animals entrusted to his care in small crates inside a hot van, where they died from heat stroke. Prosecutors said he later posed as the pets’ owners to have the bodies cremated in an effort to hide the circumstances of their deaths.
Authorities said Liu assisted in the cover-up, with the couple allegedly taking the dogs’ remains to multiple crematoriums in the area in what prosecutors described as an apparent attempt to avoid raising suspicion.
The case began to unravel after a distraught pet owner contacted Irvine police upon receiving a text message stating that their dog had died.
During a search of Sit’s home, investigators discovered a van filled with dog crates that smelled strongly of bleach, prosecutors said.
Necropsies determined that eight of the dogs died from heat stroke, while another died from blunt-force trauma. Two additional dogs had already been cremated, making it impossible for investigators to determine exactly how they died.
“Every single day our minds are forced to relive Saint’s final moments over and over again,” one woman told The Orange County Register during Friday’s sentencing hearing.
Another owner said the death of one dog is a “tragedy,” but the deaths of so many animals amounted to an “abomination.”
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Sit, who operated Happy K9 Academy and reportedly earned about $20,000 a month, apologized in court but insisted “the dogs did not die in the van.”
He was convicted on 19 felony counts. Both Sit and Liu have remained jailed on $550,000 bail since their arrests.
