A Massachusetts man will spend 30 months in federal prison for his role in commissioning and distributing videos showing the extreme torture of monkeys.
Garrett Fitzgerald, from Scituate, was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to conspiring to create and distribute animal crush videos. The sentence includes three years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service.
The case highlights a disturbing underground network where people pay for custom videos of animal abuse.
Federal authorities have been cracking down on these groups, which operate in encrypted online spaces and commission violence overseas.
Court documents reveal Fitzgerald worked with Ronald Bedra and Robert Berndt to send money to individuals in Indonesia. The conspirators used encrypted chat platforms to direct the creation of videos showing baby and adult monkeys being tortured.
They then shared these videos among themselves and distributed them online. The practice represents a particularly cruel form of animal abuse that authorities are working to eliminate.
Fitzgerald’s co-conspirators have already been sentenced. Berndt was sentenced last month to 38 months in prison, while Bedra received 54 months.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the FBI investigated the case. Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and the Southern District of Ohio handled the case.
Animal crush videos violate federal law under legislation designed to protect animals from extreme cruelty. The sentences in this case reflect the seriousness of these crimes and the conspiracy’s international scope.
