Wisconsin man sentenced for causing creation and distribution of video showing monkey being tortured

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.

Herrera pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 15.

His attorney, Richard Coad, issued a statement saying his client “is terribly sorry for his wrongdoing, and for putting his family and community through this ordeal.”

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.