'Beyond disturbing': 11 more people indicted in 'animal crush videos' case
Eleven people from across the country who officials say paid a Cincinnati man to create videos showing monkeys being tortured and mutilated have been indicted on federal charges.
The network of people were involved in online groups "dedicated to monkey torture and mutilation," officials said. The 11 defendants are from places including Arizona, North Carolina, Connecticut and western Kentucky. They are accused of conspiring with 28-year-old Nicholas Tyler Dryden, of English Woods, to create and distribute what are known as "animal crush videos."
Dryden was arrested in June 2024 and pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court in Cincinnati to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. He is being held at the Butler County Jail as he awaits sentencing.
An indictment that was unsealed Friday, May 16, in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, says the 11 defendants paid Dryden, who then paid a teen in Indonesia to commit requested acts on camera.
The videos showed monkeys "having their genitals burned and cut with scissors as well as being sodomized with a wooden skewer and a spoon," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
In 2023, messages on WhatsApp to someone in Indonesia, according to court documents, Dryden suggested choking a monkey "to almost dead" and stretching the monkey's arms and legs "with a ratchet until it is broken."
In January, a New Jersey man, Giancarlo Morelli, pleaded guilty in the case. According to prosecutors, Morelli admitted conspiring with others to create and distribute the videos showing "acts of sadistic violence" against baby and adult monkeys.
Court documents detail multiple Telegram messages from April 2023 between Dryden and Morelli about a video.
In one, Dryden says: "He beats it to death and cuts it..."
Morelli responds: "yes finally!"
In a statement, FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola said: "The acts of torture and abuse of young monkeys alleged in this case are beyond disturbing."
If convicted, the 11 charged in the new indictment face up to five years in prison.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Feds charge 11 more people in 'animal crush videos' case
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