An indictment was unsealed today charging 11 defendants from across the United States for their alleged involvement with online groups dedicated to creating and distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys.
The indictment alleges the individuals conspired with previously charged defendant Nicholas T. Dryden, of Cincinnati, to create and distribute so-called “animal crush videos.”
The indictment details 79 overt acts in which defendants allegedly paid Dryden who then paid a minor in Indonesia to commit the requested acts on camera.
The videos alleged to have been created as part of the conspiracy depicted, among other things, monkeys having their genitals burned and cut with scissors, as well as being sodomized with a wooden skewer and a spoon.
Those charged today include:
If convicted as charged, these defendants face maximum penalties of five years in prison.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly A. Norris for the Southern District of Ohio, Assistant Director Douglas Ault of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Office of Law Enforcement, and Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office made today’s announcement.
The USFWS Office of Law Enforcement and FBI investigated the case.
Senior Trial Attorney Adam C. Cullman of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Oakley for the Southern District of Ohio are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.