A South Florida man pleaded guilty Monday of sharing videos showing the torture of baby and adult monkeys, according to prosecutors.
Francisco Javier Ravelo, 36, of Coral Gables, had been charged in the disturbing crime back in October, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida.
According to court documents, Ravelo had created some and administered online chat groups that were dedicated to the distribution and discussion of “sexual and violent videos depicting monkeys being mutilated and burned,” prosecutors said, adding that Ravelo had distributed more than 40 of the “crush” videos.
“This case is deeply disturbing,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “As a former state court trial judge who presided over domestic violence cases, I was trained to recognize lethality factors, warning signs that violence is escalating. Deliberate cruelty to animals is one of the clearest red flags.”
Quiñones went on to say that Ravelo didn’t just view the videos, adding that he created and administered online groups dedicated to it and distributed dozens of the torture videos.
“In his first term, President Donald J. Trump signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act into law to end animal crushing,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) said in a statement. “If you are involved in this sadistic activity, we will prosecute you.”
Ravelo now faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
