A man from Scituate, Massachusetts, was convicted of participating in online groups that created and shared videos of monkeys being tortured and sexually abused, according to the Office of Public Affairs. The sentence includes 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service.
Following a guilty plea, Garrett Fitzgerald was sentenced for conspiring to create and distribute these disturbing “animal crush videos.”
Court records state that Fitzgerald’s co-conspirators include Ronald Bedra and Robert Berndt, who were both previously convicted for creating and distributing animal torture videos. The group used encrypted chats to send money to people in Indonesia, who produced videos showing the violent abuse of baby and adult monkeys. The conspirators later shared the videos among themselves before circulating them online.
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates first uncovered the underground networks producing horrific baby monkey torture content in 2021, after exposing a private group that funded custom torture videos. Evidence gathered through our investigations contributed to the BBC documentary “The Monkey Haters,” and has been shared with law enforcement agencies around the world.
Since then, many individuals associated with these groups have been charged and convicted. The harm inflicted on these monkeys cannot be undone, but continued vigilance and public action can help bring an end to the cruelty.
Lady Freethinker is grateful for the work of the federal and law enforcement agencies involved in pursuing and sentencing the criminals responsible for creating and circulating these disgusting videos. We remain committed to exposing this abuse and fighting to end the exploitation of animals everywhere.
