A dog trainer in Southern California has been convicted of multiple counts of felony animal cruelty after the deaths of 11 dogs in his care. Kwong Chun Sit, also known as Tony, was found guilty of leaving the dogs in small crates in the back of a hot van, where they died of heatstroke.

Investigation and Conviction

Sit’s girlfriend, Tingfeng Liu, was also convicted of helping to carry out the cremations of the dogs. The investigation began when a dog owner, Alexander Kostyukevich, reported that his dog, Miko, had died while in Sit’s care. Kostyukevich had found Sit’s business, Happy K9 Academy, on Instagram and had paid for training services.

As the investigation continued, authorities discovered that Sit had dropped off multiple dogs at different cremation services, and that he had pretended to be the owner of the dogs in order to have them cremated. The dogs were found to have died from heatstroke and hyperthermia, and one dog was found to have died from blunt force trauma.

Sit’s attorney argued that the deaths of the dogs were unexpected and not the result of intentional acts by her client. However, the prosecution presented evidence that Sit had been reckless and negligent in his care of the dogs.

Sit and Liu are set to face punishment for the deaths of the dogs during sentencing on July 10. Sit could be sentenced to almost 14 years in prison, while Liu could be sentenced to four years.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.