Used ‘Encrypted Chat Apps’ to ‘Direct’ People in Indonesia to Film Torture of Monkeys: Authorities
OHIO — A Wisconsin resident has been identified as a “co-conspirator” in a monkey-torture case that has resulted in an Ohio man pleading guilty, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal authorities announced that the plea agreement with Ronald P. Bedra of Etna, Ohio, was unsealed today.
Etna admitted to conspiring “with others to create and distribute the videos which depicted acts of sadistic violence against baby and adult monkeys, including having digits and limbs severed and being forcibly sodomized with a heated screwdriver,” a DOJ news release states.
Bedra mailed a computer thumb drive, which is a device that stores electronic files, to the unnamed Wisconsin co-conspirator, the release says. The thumb drive contained 64 videos of “monkey torture,” it adds.
The conspirators used “encrypted chat apps” to “direct” money to people in Indonesia who were willing to torture the monkeys on camera, according to the DOJ.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the FBI.
