A man in Chesapeake, Virginia who called himself the “Torture King” has been charged for conspiring to create and distribute animal crush videos.
Michael Macartney, age 50, was arrested by federal prosecutors for allegedly funding and selling videos of baby and adult monkeys being harmed and killed for entertainment in online groups. Members of the monkey torture groups from across the globe would reportedly pool funds to have video makers in Indonesia inflict gruesome acts of violence on camera.
Macartney was featured in the BBC documentary “The Monkey Haters,” for which Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates provided information and intelligence.
Lady Freethinker applauds law enforcement for taking action against the disturbing trend of sickening monkey torture videos, which Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates have been investigating for more than two years.
Macartney allegedly collected nearly 2,300 videos of monkeys being tortured, mutilated, sexually violated, and killed, and worked with a global animal torture ring to fund, develop, watch, promote, and sell such videos online.
“Animal crushing” is a term used in federal criminal law to describe when live animals are “purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.”
Over the course of nine months, Macartney was paid over 300 times for the horrific videos, according to his charging documents.
Multiple suspects in Indonesia, the U.S., and the U.K. have been arrested and charged for participating in monkey torture rings, and others are currently under investigation.
