A New Jersey man was sentenced to four years in federal prison for creating and distributing videos showing monkeys being tortured and abused, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Giancarlo Morelli, of Wharton, pleaded guilty earlier this year in a Cincinnati federal court to participating in online groups dedicated to producing and sharing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said.
Conspirators used encrypted chat apps to send payments to individuals in Indonesia who carried out the requested acts of torture on camera, prosecutors said.
The graphic footage — often referred to as “animal crush videos” — included scenes of baby and adolescent monkeys being tortured in a multitude of ways, including having their genitals burned and cut off, according to statements of facts signed by Morelli.
Prosecutors say he paid another individual 19 times for the videos and provided extensive feedback on their content — also offering suggestions for future material — actions described by Acting Special Agent in Charge Adam Lawson of the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office as “beyond disturbing” and “repulsive.”
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott sentenced him to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $25,000 in fines, court records show.
“If you pay others to torture animals or to share images of that horrific abuse, you can expect to be held accountable as if you committed the torture firsthand,” U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II for the Southern District of Ohio said Tuesday in a news release. “Today’s sentence shows our resolve to punish everyone who participates in these despicable and sadistic conspiracies.”
