Lady Freethinker (U.S.) and Action for Primates (U.K.) applaud the jail sentence handed to a U.S. individual convicted of Conspiracy to Create and Distribute Animal Crushing Videos.

Maryland man Drexel Venero, who had pleaded guilty to the charges, has received an 18-month sentence with 3 years’ supervised release.

Venero sent out a “wish list” of torture requests, according to court documents, which included: hammering a monkey’s limbs until they were flat, smashing their genitalia, pulling their teeth, cutting off their eyelids, and using a c-clamp to crush their skull slowly. He was a part of several private groups that used encrypted chats to ideate and share the videos. Drexel collected funds to pay videomakers in other countries, like Indonesia, for new animal crush videos to be produced.

“The immense suffering inflicted on helpless infant macaques purely for human ‘amusement’ in these underground groups is heartbreaking and must not be tolerated,” said Lady Freethinker Founder and President Nina Jackel. “I’m grateful to law enforcement for their diligent work in investigating these brutal acts and seeking justice.”

This sentencing is the latest in a series of arrests, convictions and imprisonment following Lady Freethinker and Action for Primate’s work exposing a monkey torture group called Million Tears – led by Ohio man and former school teacher Ronald Bedra, who went by the online alias “DemonSwordSoulCrusher.” Bedra was recently sentenced to 54 months in prison for conspiracy to create and spread monkey torture videos. The evidence uncovered during an investigation by Action for Primates and Lady Freethinker including videos and screenshots of chats from him and other group members, was handed over to the U.S. authorities.

Members of the ”Million Tears” group could pay for their own “private monkey” to be filmed while being tortured through the member’s chosen method, or several members could make smaller contributions towards a fee for their share of a “community monkey” – which allowed participants to request specific, depraved acts of cruelty and torture to be inflicted on this shared monkey and decide how the monkey was to be killed.

Following “Million Tears,” various other groups sprung up dedicated to the torture, mutilation, and killing of infant long-tailed macaques.

Virginia man Michael Macartney, known online as “The Torture King,” was also recently sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a global monkey torture ring. Macartney was featured in the BBC documentary “The Monkey Haters” – for which Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates provided intelligence and information. 

Baby monkey torture videos are often purchased through encrypted chats on Telegram, using cryptocurrency and other online payment methods. The videos have been reposted on major social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

Creating and distributing such “animal crush” videos is a federal crime in the U.S., punishable by up to 7 years in prison under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT Act).