A man from Kentucky who was involved in online monkey torture groups recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos, according to local news.
From November 2021 to August 2022, Kendall Glenn Hacker participated in a conspiracy that funded and distributed videos of monkeys being tortured. The videos were created abroad and then shared in the United States.
Court records indicate that Hacker transferred money to Michael Macartney — a Virginia man known online as the “Torture King” who oversaw several monkey torture groups using encrypted chats to promote the killing of infant monkeys for entertainment. Macartney received a three-year-and-four-month prison sentence in October.
“Michael Macartney and his co-conspirators produced a collection of videos displaying abhorrent acts of animal torture that can only be described as evil,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Derek W. Gordon said at the time of Macartney’s guilty plea.
Hacker also possessed a video depicting a young monkey being tortured with a jar of ants and fatally sodomized, along with other videos, according to his plea agreement.
Hacker’s messages show that he agreed to “donate” financially to fund the creation of this cruel content — which resulted in at least one monkey’s death, according to court documents. He could serve a maximum prison sentence of five years and receive a $250,000 fine.
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates (AfP) first exposed the sadistic world of online monkey torture in 2021 — including the online group “Million Tears,” where members could pay to request specific torture inflicted upon monkeys.
Following investigations by Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates, individuals involved in “Million Tears” as well as other monkey torture groups have been prosecuted. In addition, a BBC investigation and documentary called “The Monkey Haters,” for which LFT and AfP provided information, was released in 2023.
These latest prosecutions are welcomed by both Lady Freethinker and AfP.
The suffering these innocent monkeys experienced is horrifying. Lady Freethinker will continue to investigate and work to end the needless torture of innocent animals for good.
