COLUMBUS, OH – A New Jersey man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring to purchase and distribute violent videos depicting the torture and mutilation of monkeys, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Giancarlo Morelli, of Wharton, admitted to paying for the creation of animal crush videos through online groups dedicated to sharing extreme abuse. Prosecutors said he bought 19 such videos from Nicholas T. Dryden, who ran forums where buyers commissioned and traded clips of animals being tortured.
According to court records, Dryden paid a minor in Indonesia to produce the videos, which showed baby and adolescent monkeys suffering severe abuse, including mutilation. Morelli not only purchased the videos but also provided feedback and suggestions for future productions, prosecutors said.
“Those making or sharing animal crush videos have reason to fear capture and swift justice in the form of sentences like today’s,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson. He stressed that federal law prohibits such conduct and warned that all participants will be prosecuted.
U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II of the Southern District of Ohio added that paying others to torture animals carries the same weight as committing the abuse directly.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Prosecutors said the investigation dismantled online groups dedicated to the trade of animal torture content.
Morelli was sentenced to 48 months in prison, marking another conviction in a widening federal crackdown on the underground trade of animal cruelty videos.
