SANTA ANA (CNS) – An Irvine dog trainer killed 11 dogs under his care and his girlfriend helped cover it up, a prosecutor argued Monday as the defendants’ attorneys disputed the cause of death for the animals.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Chay listed the names of the dogs that died a year ago before arguing that experienced dog trainer, Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit, 54, “betrayed the trust of 11 families.”
Sit is charged with 22 felony counts of cruelty to animals as well as nine counts of attempting to conceal evidence and two counts of concealing evidence, all misdemeanors.
Co-defendant Tingfeng Liu, 24, is charged with a felony count of being an accessory after the fact, and one count of destroying or concealing evidence and two counts of attempting to destroy or conceal evidence, all misdemeanors.
The dogs that died under Sit’s care were Shadow, Ziggy, Miko, Rosie, Theo, Puffin, Cody, Zoe, Luna, Bang Bang and Saint.
Sit owned Happy K9 Academy where the dogs were housed to be trained, Deputy District Attorney Danica Drotman said in her opening statement of the trial. Liu moved in with Sit in May 2025 and would help with some of the dog training and care, the prosecutor added.
The dogs would stay for a week or two weeks for the training, Drotman said.
One of the dogs died June 12 and the rest died June 18.
After the dogs died, Sit and Liu took the bodies to multiple crematory services, Drotman said. Two were cremated but the rest of the cremations were prevented by authorities, Drotman said.
Sit sent the clients a text message saying the canines “died peacefully” in their sleep overnight, Drotman said. He allegedly offered them refunds and said the dogs would be cremated and the clients could pick up the ashes.
The text triggered the investigation when one of the clients called police, Drotman said.
An officer who investigated the defendant’s home at 733 Estancia found his Mercedes-Benz van was filled with carrying containers of the bodies of the dogs that reeked of bleach, she said.
Necropsies showed that eight of the dogs died from heat stroke and one from blunt-force trauma, Drotman alleged.
Chay argued the text message to his customers was “lie after lie after lie because we know the truth. We know he was not actually sorry… and it was painful and they suffered… It wasn’t unexpected. If anything, it was preventable.”
A prosecution expert testified that the puppy Rosie was “so afraid she urinated on herself,” Chay argued. The puppy’s cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the head,” Chay alleged.
Evidence also showed many of the dogs died of heat stroke as they were crammed into carriers too tight for the dogs and left in a van, Chay argued.
“That van was a death bed,” Chay said.
When Irvine police asked Sit where his dog was when the others died, the defendant said the dog was in his air-conditioned apartment with him, Chay said.
Chay argued that Liu moved into Sit’s one-bedroom apartment with him and that Sit referred to her as his girlfriend in a text message.
Liu’s attorney, Fred Fascenelli, said that police combed through hundreds of personal videos of Sit’s, but never found any romantic images of the defendants. Liu never changed her address from San Diego, where she went to college, and moved at the beginning of the summer break, the defense attorney said.
Whenever Sit went to pick up a customer’s dog, Liu always remained in the car, Fascenelli said. The two had a 30-year age difference and prosecutors failed to prove they were romantically involved, the defense attorney argued.
Liu simply “followed directions” from her boss when taking the dogs to a large-animal landfill business.
“There’s no proof she knew a crime had been committed,” Fascenelli said.
“I don’t see a nefarious aspect of cleaning up after a number of animals had passed away,” Fascenelli said.
Liu had also asked Sit if he really wanted to leave the bodies at the landfill, Fascenelli said.
Sit’s attorney Kate Corrigan said prosecutors did not prove how the dogs died.
In her opening statement of the trial, Corrigan said Sit had been a dog trainer for a long time and enjoyed a strong reputation.
Corrigan referred to “panic attacks” in the wake of the deaths of the dogs.
“I believe the evidence will show you one bad decision after another happened,” Corrigan said. “Whether that rises to the level of a criminal conviction will be left up to you.”
Corrigan said “things happened very quickly … and they were not the fault of Mr. Sit.”
Sit also faces sentencing enhancements for committing a crime while out on bail. He is charged in an unrelated case out of Riverside County in 2024 where he was accused of brandishing a gun in a dispute with workers repairing a leaky pipe, Drotman said in a trial brief.
Recent Comments