A dog trainer is responsible for the deaths of 11 dogs in Irvine and his girlfriend helped him cover it up, a prosecutor told jurors Monday, while the defendants’ attorneys said their clients were not guilty of crimes.
Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit, 54, 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 “Fiona” Liu, 24, is charged with a felony count of being an accessory after the fact, one count of destroying or concealing evidence and two counts of attempting to destroy or conceal evidence, all misdemeanors.
Deputy District Attorney Danica Drotman ticked off the names of the 11 dogs, Shadow, Ziggy, Miko, Rosie, Theo, Puffin, Cody, Zoe, Luna, Bang Bang and Saint, and added, “they had no voice, but the evidence will speak for them.”
Sit owned Happy K9 Academy where the dogs were housed to be trained, Drotman said. 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.
“These dogs were subjected to conditions that led to their suffering and deaths,” Drotman alleged.
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.
She said the case was about a “complete failure” in Sit’s responsibilities as a trainer and caretaker.
“This case is not about an accident,” Drotman said. “These 11 dogs died because of a series of deliberate and intentional choices.”
Liu was “very much present” for what happened and went along with Sit’s attempts to destroy the bodies of the dogs, she said.
But Sit’s attorney Kate Corrigan and Liu’s attorney Fred Fascenelli implored jurors to put aside their emotions and consider the facts in the case.
Corrigan said Sit had been a dog trainer “for a long time” and had 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.”
Fascenelli said his client was not Sit’s girlfriend.
“Ms. Liu was a 23-year-old student who was here on a visa, with a new language, new customs and she was attempting to navigate that,” Fascenelli said.
The two were “not in a romantic relationship at all,” he maintained.
“She was there effectively as an intern learning from Mr. Sit, who was her mentor,” Fascenelli said.
Liu did nothing to hide her identity when taking the dogs to crematory facilities, Fascenelli said.
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.