A former groomer at Your Dog’s Best Friends was found guilty today of felony animal cruelty resulting in the death of a two-year-old golden retriever named Abigail, and four misdemeanor counts of animal abuse.
Kevin Malik Sanders, 30, pleaded guilty to the felony animal cruelty charge, a Class 6 felony punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a $2,500 fine. Each misdemeanor count also carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.
Sanders decided against a jury trial and “accepted responsibility” for strangling Abigail to death by pleading guilty and avoiding a jury trial, his attorney Greg Steinberg told Circuit Court Judge Katie Uston.
Uston denied Steinberg’s request to strike the misdemeanors, and said that Sanders was found beyond a reasonable doubt to have tortured five dogs between July 2024 and January 2025.
During the two-day trial, video surveillance footage of Sanders’ grooming station showed him roughly handling dogs, choking them and picking them up by their necks in the facility at 2000 Richmond Highway.
“The evidence established that there was some training at Your Dog’s Best Friends, and that training included being taught that if a dog was upset or distressed, the dog should be removed from the table,” Uston said.
Sanders was arrested on July 21, 2025, more than a year after Abigail died at Your Dog’s Best Friends on July 12, 2024. He was in jail for three weeks until posting a $20,000 unsecured bond on August 11, 2025.
Rebecca Clark was a customer at Your Dog’s Best Friends for a decade until an investigator with the Alexandria Police Department contacted her to report that Tommy, her golden retriever, had been abused.
“It’s horrible to sit in that courtroom and watch video of Tommy get picked up by his neck restraint,” Clark said. “This is an 80-pound dog. It was shocking. And putting a very high-powered blow dryer in his face when it obviously bothered him and he was trying to escape — I’ve never seen him panic like that.”
Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter said that his office will seek a stiff sentence.
“I am gratified by the verdict rendered in this case,” Porter said. “From the very beginning, I have understood this to be an extremely serious matter, and I personally consider the abuse of innocent animals a violent crime. My office will seek a significant sentence in this matter.”
In a statement today, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria said “we are immensely thankful that justice has been served.”
“While no legal outcome can undo the harm done or the heartbreak experienced by the families of the affected animals, this guilty plea represents an important step toward accountability for all parties involved,” AWLA said.
The organization thanked its Animal Services team for its work to review 640 video files, totaling more than 600 hours of video review, while obtaining search warrants, coordinating with police and interviewing witnesses. It also commended its senior manager of behavior and training, who provided testimony, and the anonymous former facility employee who reported the abuse.
Sanders’ sentencing hearing will be scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 12.
