An Irvine couple working a canine coaching service was charged with a number of felony counts Monday involving the deaths of at the very least 11 canines, with a number of the animals being cremated earlier than they might be examined.
Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit, 53, of Irvine and his girlfriend, 23-year-old Tingfeng Liu of Vista, have been arrested final week, each on suspicion of animal cruelty and destruction of proof, in keeping with an Irvine Police Division information launch. One of many sufferer’s homeowners tipped off authorities a day earlier than the couple’s arrest. They mentioned they’d obtained a message from the coach saying their canine had died in its sleep and been cremated.
“The one household reached out to us [and] thought it was sort of suspicious that their wholesome canine died with this coach,” Irvine police spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp advised The Occasions final Thursday.
Upon investigating, the division’s Animal Providers Unit discovered multiple canine sufferer.
The Orange County district legal professional’s workplace confirmed in a information launch Monday that at the very least 11 canines died in Sit’s possession. The entire our bodies, together with these cremated, have been recovered.
Investigators discovered that two canines died from heatstroke, and one died from blunt-force trauma. Two canines have been cremated earlier than they might be examined, and the stays have been later turned over to the homeowners.
A minimum of six animals have pending necropsies, prosecutors mentioned.
Authorities consider the couple dropped off the primary canine at a crematorium on June 13. By June 18, the whole variety of lifeless our bodies rose to 11.
“Our canines love us unconditionally, and to have somebody who marketed himself as a canine lover who would deal with his purchasers’ canines as his personal be not solely answerable for the deaths of those pets however then to enlist his girlfriend to cowl up the animal abuse is past repulsive,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer mentioned in an announcement. “No animal deserves to be killed after which tossed apart like a chunk of rubbish. The abuse of any animal won’t be tolerated.”
Sit, who operated the canine coaching service K9 Academy, faces 30 counts: 11 felony counts of animal cruelty, 11 felony counts of animal abuse by a caretaker, seven misdemeanor counts of trying to destroy proof, and one misdemeanor depend of destroying proof.
Liu, who’s believed to have helped Sit drop off the canines on the crematoriums, faces 4 counts: one felony depend of accent to a felony, one misdemeanor depend of destruction of proof, and two misdemeanor counts of tried destruction of proof.
The couple stay in custody in lieu of $550,000 bail. The bail quantity was elevated after prosecutors mentioned the couple have been packed and able to flee earlier than they have been arrested.
Sit faces a most sentence of 13 years and Liu 4 years if they’re every convicted on all prices, in keeping with the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace.
K9 Academy supplied a wide range of coaching packages, akin to one to 4 classes on behavioral coaching ranging in value from $999 to $3,999. The Irvine Police Division mentioned there might be extra victims provided that Sit operated beneath totally different firm names all through Southern California.
Anybody with data associated to the case or whose canine died within the care of coach Sit are requested to contact rsteen@cityofirvine.org.
