<\/p>\n
A Miami man is charged with distributing videos that show animals being severely injured, killed or abused for sexual gratification.<\/p>\n
Miami Herald File<\/p>\n
A Miami man is accused of selling sadistic internet videos in which someone stomps dogs and other animals to death to satisfy viewers\u2019 sexual fetishes.<\/p>\n
Francisco Javier Ravelo, 47, a former contractor for the U.S. Air Force in Florida, is charged with distributing videos over the internet that show animals \u2014 from dogs to primates \u2014 being severely injured or killed for sexual gratification on at least 42 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025, according to federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Ravelo was charged last October under a federal law that was initially passed in 2010 to focus on people producing and distributing \u201cobscene\u201d social media videos showing animals being seriously harmed for the sexual pleasure of viewers, an internet trend known as \u201canimal crushing.\u201d In Ravelo\u2019s case, the animals were \u201cpurposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury,\u201d according to a charging document.<\/p>\n
His case is the second time in South Florida that someone has been charged under this federal law.<\/p>\n
\u2018Animal Crush\u2019 law<\/p>\n
The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 criminalizes the creation, sale, and marketing of videos depicting cruelty to animals to satisfy a fetish. The law\u2019s enactment followed a Supreme Court ruling in 2010 that struck down a 1999 animal cruelty law that was determined to be too broad and a violation of free speech rights.<\/p>\n
The law was amended under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term in 2019.<\/p>\n
In Miami, the federal court record offers few details of Ravelo\u2019s alleged animal-abuse crime. Ravelo, who is also known as \u201cTony F—ing Montana,\u201d according to his charging document, was granted a $100,000 bond. But there was one key condition: He was prohibited him from accessing Facebook, Instagram and other social media.<\/p>\n
His Miami defense lawyer, Michael Mirer, declined to comment on Thursday. Ravelo is scheduled to change his initial plea of not guilty to guilty on March 2 in Miami federal court to a single count of distributing animal \u201ccrush videos,\u201d which carries up to seven years in prison.<\/p>\n
The animal crushing law has rarely been charged in this region, according to a review of federal cases filed in the Southern District of Florida. The first and only previous time someone was charged with breaking this law happened in April 2021.<\/p>\n
Aventura vet convicted<\/p>\n
Aventura veterinarian Prentiss Madden was sentenced to about 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving and possessing thousands of images of infants and toddlers having sex with adults. He was also charged with making videos of himself having sex with dogs and sharing them through social media.<\/p>\n
In addition to finding voluminous child-porn images on his iPhone, federal agents discovered \u201cvideos created by Madden depicting himself engaged in \u2018animal crushing\u2019 as well as social media chats discussing [them],\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n
In one example, Madden took a video selfie of himself having sex with a female dog. In another example, Madden produced a video in which he abused a female dog with a sex toy.<\/p>\n
A federal judge gave him 20 years in prison on the child-porn offenses and about two years for creating the animal-crush videos.<\/p>\n