Man Sentenced to Four Years for Torturing Monkeys

A New Jersey man, Giancarlo Morelli, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison after being found guilty of conspiring to create and distribute disturbing fetish films involving the torture of monkeys, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed.

According to prosecutors, Morelli and his co-conspirator, Nicholas T. Dryden of Cincinnati, were arrested in June 2024 after authorities discovered their participation in private online groups that shared and discussed violent acts against animals. Between March and April 2023, the duo exchanged messages, videos, and payments related to the creation of the abuse content.

Investigations revealed that Morelli sent 28 payments ranging from $40 to $379 to Dryden, who then forwarded the money to a child in Indonesia to carry out the acts.

The footage included shocking scenes of monkeys being burned, mutilated, and sodomized — acts prosecutors described as “unimaginably cruel.”

In addition, an Iowa-based attorney, Philip Colt Moss, was also arrested in August 2024 for his alleged involvement in financing and distributing similar videos.

The crimes violated the Animal Crush Prohibition Act of 2010 and the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act of 2019, which classify such acts as federal offenses.

During the investigation, The indictment revealed that Dryden reportedly sent messages giving instructions“So, this is the best video that you have ever made. I don’t care. Go ahead and kill it. I’ll buy another one tomorrow.

“If you pay others to torture animals or to share images of that horrific abuse, you can expect to be held accountable as if you committed the torture firsthand,” Dominick Gerace II, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said.