In San Francisco, a distressing situation has left numerous California dog owners feeling shocked, outraged, and heartbroken. They are grappling with a troubling incident involving a dog sitter hired through the widely-used app, Rover, now under police scrutiny in the Bay Area.
Felipe Morales-Torres is raising concerns about a dog sitter located in the Lake Merced neighborhood, whom he found using Rover, a trusted service for pet care.
“It was horrifying to see him covered in either urine, vomit, or both,” Morales-Torres recounted, describing the condition of his dog, Brady, after a holiday trip, while he and his family were far away in Ohio.
Upon returning on Christmas Day, Morales-Torres took Brady to the veterinarian for immediate care. The unsettling experience led him to file a police report to seek justice for his pet.
In a twist, Morales-Torres stumbled upon a Reddit discussion and video revealing that two other dogs had tragically died while under the same sitter’s care, deepening the community’s concern and prompting further investigation.
Morales-Torres filed a police report. He later came across a Reddit thread and video discovering two other dogs had died under the same care.
“This is a pet owner’s worst nightmare come true,” said San Francisco resident Ti Tran.
Tran and Amy Dinh left their dog, Aku, with the dog sitter on Dec. 19. While they didn’t get a lot of communication, it wasn’t too suspicious.
But two days before Christmas, they got worrisome news.
“We got a call on the night of the 23rd, right before Christmas Eve from the vet. They asked if we were the owner of Aku and said he wasn’t responding and his reflexes weren’t intact,” Tran said.
The dog sitter had taken Aku to a vet clinic in the Fillmore District.
“He was just suffering so bad,” Tran said.
“And he wasn’t showing improvement in their care, and they were trying so hard,” Dinh said.
Aku died from complications related to dehydration.
Scott Hallman’s dog, Zeb, also died. The cause is still unknown.
“As our flight was taking off, we got a message on Rover saying our dog had bloody stool and had fainted,” Hallman said.
Hallman and his husband left Zeb with the same dog sitter on Dec. 17. Almost a week later, Zeb had died.
“We were in the air flying and my heart just sank, and I cried the rest of the flight,” Hallman said. “Our dog was 4 and a half. I’ve had him since he was 5 weeks old, and he was part of the family.
As for the dog sitter, Hallman says there weren’t any warning signs on his Rover profile.
“You would think he’s a single guy who works from home, who loves dogs and dogs love him, and he’s been doing this for a while, so there were really no red flags,” Hallman said.
In a statement, Rover said: “We are heartbroken by this incident and condemn the reported mistreatment of these pets.”
The company added that it had conducted its own investigation and permanently deactivated the dog sitter’s account, along with another associated with it, and it is working with local law enforcement.
Meanwhile, police said this is an open investigation and no arrests have been made.
Copyright © 2025 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
