Wisconsin man sentenced for monkey torture video
A wild macaque monkey plays in a bush in Chongqing, China, December 2, 2023. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
MADISON, Wis. - A southwestern Wisconsin man was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in prison for causing the creation and distribution of a video of a monkey being tortured.
U.S. District Judge William M. Conley also fined Kenneth Herrera, 40, of Soldiers Grove $5,000 and ordered him to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Herrera was cited under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, which makes it illegal to cause the creation or distribution of depictions of "animal crushing." Animal crushing includes burning, suffocating, impaling or causing the serious bodily injury of animals, prosecutors said.
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Herrera pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 15. A telephone message seeking comment was left for his attorney.
Agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the FBI found evidence that Herrera in December 2021 sent money to a videographer in Indonesia in exchange for a video of a monkey being physically abused, prosecutors said. The videographer sent the video to Herrera via an encrypted messaging application.