US man jailed for “ringleader” role in monkey torture network
Known as the ‘The Torture King’, he plead guilty to creating and distributing sadistic videos of monkeys being tortured, which were posted on private social media channels.
Warning: this story contains upsetting and disturbing details of animal abuse.
A US man who referred to himself as ‘The Torture King’ has been jailed over his role in producing horrifying videos of monkeys being tortured and killed.
Mike Macartney, a 50-year-old based in Virginia, will now serve three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal ‘crushing’ videos.
Authorities had discovered that Macartney had played a leading role in a video network that consisted of hundreds of customers around the world paying for long-tailed macaques to be tortured and killed on film.
The sadistic global network was originally exposed after a year-long undercover investigation by the BBC’s World Service last year.
The videos initially established a following on YouTube, before moving to private groups on the messaging platform Telegram.
As part of the private groups, hundreds of members discussed and devised ideas on how to torture monkeys. Mr Macartney was one of the members who directed several of these group chats.
Members could then commission an idea to become a reality. Torturers in Indonesia and other Asian countries were paid to carry out the torture on helpless monkeys, filming the scene and selling the video to the paying customers. Macartney was found to be collecting funds in connection with such videos.
The graphic videos are incredibly distressing and disturbing. “It was extreme depravity”, Joel Gunter, an investigative reporter with the BBC team behind the initial investigation, previously told CBS. “We saw a video of a baby monkey being put into a blender, videos with power tools used on monkeys. It was torture like you can't imagine”.
At the sentencing last month, Macartney was given a reduced sentence because he pleaded guilty and cooperated fully with the authorities investigation. The judge also noted that arriving at an appropriate sentence had been challenging because the global animal torture network had been the first case of its kind.
The ruling is the latest development in authorities’ long-running fight in bringing those involved in the network to justice.
The US Department of Homeland Security has now taken action against nine of the network’s major players.
This includes Nicole Devilbiss, 35, of Jacksonville, who was sentenced earlier this year in June to four years and three months in federal prison for conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. During its investigation, law enforcement had located a journal that detailed Devilbiss’s interest in obtaining a monkey within the US to abuse to create additional content.
Arrests and sentencing have taken place outside of the US too. Torturers in Indonesia include M Ajis Rasjana who was given a jail sentence of eight months - the maximum sentence in the country for animal torture - and Asep Yadi Nurul Hikmah, who’s sentence was raised to three years in jail as it also included the additional charge of selling a protected species.
In the UK, two woman were jailed earlier this month for uploading content of monkey torture to online chat groups and making payments in connection with the videos. Holly LeGresley, 37, received two years in prison, and Adriana Orme, 56, was jailed for 15 months.
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