California dog trainer charged with animal cruelty after police say 11 dogs died while in his care

IRVINE, Calif. -- Eleven dogs died while in the care of a California dog trainer and prosecutors say he and his girlfriend tried to destroy the evidence by dropping off the dogs' bodies at different crematoriums.

Kwong (Tony) Chun Sit, of Irvine, pleaded not guilty Monday in Orange County Superior Court to 11 counts of animal cruelty, 11 counts of animal abuse by a caretaker, seven counts of attempting to destroy evidence and one count of destruction of evidence, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Tingfeng Liu, of Vista, who is dating Sit, pleaded not guilty Monday to accessory to a felony and destruction of evidence, police said.

Sit, 53, and Liu, 23, are both are in custody on $550,000 bail each. Prosecutors said the couple was packed and ready to flee when they were arrested on Thursday. Each has been assigned a public defender, prosecutors said.

A pet owner contacted police last week saying their dog trainer told them their dog had died and had been cremated, police spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp said.

Investigators since have determined that 11 dogs died and that nine of them died on or around Wednesday, police said.

Aimee Gutierrez said in a social media post that her family several weeks earlier had adopted a 9-month-old Belgian Malinois and named her Saint. She said the person they trusted to help train Saint informed her by text that Saint had died in her sleep.

"We were not given details," Gutierrez said. We were not given the change to say goodbye. We later learned that she had been cremated without our consent or knowledge."

Another dog was also cremated, police said. The Irvine Police Department's Animal Services Unit recovered the bodies of multiple dogs that prosecutors say had been dropped off by either Sit or Liu at crematoriums.

Necropsies performed on three of the dogs show two of the dogs died from heat stroke and the third dog died from blunt force trauma, prosecutors said. Necropsies are pending on the remaining six animals.

All but one of the dogs was dropped off at crematoriums last Wednesday. The body of the first dog was dropped off on June 13.

Sit worked throughout Southern California under different company names, including Happy K9 Academy, police said. A website with that company name lists Tony Sit as the author of its blog posts. It says their services include boarding and training but doesn't give a boarding facility address or other specific information. An address listed on the website is that of a public park in Tustin, California.

The police investigation is ongoing, Oldoerp said.