Scituate man sentenced in animal torture videos case

A Massachusetts man was sentenced in federal court Thursday for his role in creating and distributing videos “depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against animals,” officials said.

Garrett Fitzgerald, of Scituate, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to conspiring to create and distribute the so-called “animal crush videos,” federal authorities said.

Animal crushing is defined in the U.S. Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act as “actual conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.”

According to officials, Fitzgerald and others directed and sent money to individuals in Indonesia, via an encrypted chat, to create videos “depicting violent torture of baby and adult monkeys.” Fitzgerald and his co-conspirators then distributed the videos to each other and online.

Two of his co-conspirators, Ronald Bedra and Robert Berndt, were previously sentenced to 54 months and 38 months in prison, respectively.