MIAMI — A Coral Gables man who obtained a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Miami has pleaded guilty to sharing sadistic internet videos of monkeys being tortured to satisfy viewers’ sexual fetishes.

Francisco Javier Ravelo, 36, a former contractor for the U.S. Air Force in Florida, admitted in Miami federal court Monday that he distributed videos over the internet that showed someone mutilating the private parts of primates for sexual gratification on at least 42 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025.

He faces up to seven years in prison for distributing “animal crush” videos at his sentencing on May 21 before U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz.

Ravelo was charged last October under a federal law that was initially passed in 2010 to focus on people producing and distributing “obscene” social media videos showing animals being seriously harmed for the sexual pleasure of viewers, an internet trend known as animal crushing. In Ravelo’s case, the animals were “purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury,” according to a charging document.

His case is the second time in South Florida that someone has been charged under this federal law.

According to a statement filed in court, Ravelo admitted that he “created and administered certain online chat groups on the platform Telegram dedicated to the distribution and discussion of obscene videos depicting monkeys being tortured.” These groups included “Advanced Practitioners of Funk Dancing for Self Defense,” “3,2,1 Go! Happy 2025!,” “Tony’s Witches,” and “F**kin Diaz Brothers.”

Ravelo, using the screen name “Tony F**king Montana,” exchanged monkey torture videos with others and had one-on-one conversations with them on Telegram, the statement says.

As the owner of the Tony’s Witches group on Telegram, Ravelo acquired the monkey torture videos from an Ohio man who was separately charged in 2024. That September, Ravelo warned others in his chat group about exchanging the crush videos: “If you share, you die. Do not share any of the content that has been posted here. Top secret.”

According to the statement filed in court, Ravelo shared four videos that depicted a money’s penis being squeezed in a vise, zip tied, pinched with pliers, or burned with a hot soldering iron. In a couple of those videos, the soldering irons were inserted into the monkey’s anus. The torture was inflicted on both baby and adult monkeys.

The statement — signed by Ravelo, his defense attorney Michael Mirer, and federal prosecutors Emily Stone and Brooke Latta — laid out the facts of the case that the government would have been able to prove if it had gone to trial. Prosecutor Brian Dobbins also assisted in the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.

“Mr. Ravelo decided it was in his best interest to change his plea from not guilty to guilty,” Mirer told the judge at Monday’s hearing after a series of questions posed to his client.

Ravelo remained free on a $100,000 bond until his sentencing. One condition prohibits him from accessing Facebook, Instagram and other social media. Ruiz warned him again on Monday, saying he would put him in a federal lock-up if he violates the requirement after a prosecutor suggested he had crossed that line.

‘Animal Crush’ law

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’s enactment followed a U.S. 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.

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.

The revised law has rarely been used in the South Florida 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.

Aventura vet convicted

Aventura veterinarian Prentiss Madden was sentenced to 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 on social media.

In addition to finding voluminous child-porn images on his iPhone, federal agents discovered “videos created by Madden depicting himself engaged in ‘animal crushing’ as well as social media chats discussing” them, according to court records.

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.

A federal judge gave him 20 years in prison on the child-porn offenses and two years for creating the animal-crush videos.

Madden’s defense lawyer was Mirer, the attorney representing Ravelo in the latest case.

Animal crushing cases have surfaced in different parts of the country.

Nationwide, the first successful prosecution happened in 2016 when a Houston man was sentenced to five years for creating videos that featured a woman mutilating and killing puppies, chickens and kittens and distributing them on the internet. The woman in the videos was also convicted.

A decade later, the Trump administration says it is making a greater commitment to animal welfare enforcement.

Bondi calls for animal protections

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi unveiled a plan to bolster the enforcement of animal-welfare crimes and strengthen the collaboration of several federal agencies, including the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, the Department of Agriculture, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations.

“Animals are part of our families. We will always fight to protect the pets we love,” Bondi said in a statement. “I have fought against animal abuse my entire career and will never stop working to prosecute the sick individuals who prey upon innocent animals.

“Since taking office, this Department of Justice has already rescued nearly 300 dogs from horrific circumstances.”

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