U.S. woman pleads guilty for role in ‘animal crush videos’ involving monkeys

A gavel sits on a desk in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Warning: The following story contains graphic details.

A Tennessee woman has pleaded guilty to charges brought against her by the U.S. Department of Justice for her involvement in the creation of videos showing violence and sexual assault being perpetrated against monkeys.

Katrina Favret pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to create and distribute what are known as “animal crush videos,” and to a second count addressing a specific video she solicited, the department said in a press release on Thursday.

“According to court documents, Favret conspired with others to create and distribute videos depicting acts of sadistic violence against baby and adult monkeys,” the release read.

“The conspirators used encrypted chat applications to direct money to individuals in Indonesia willing to commit the requested acts of torture on camera.”

According to a statement of facts, which the Justice Department said Favret signed, the videos in question included “depictions of monkeys having their digits and limbs severed and monkeys being forcibly sodomized.”

Favret’s guilty plea comes after she was charged via a grand jury indictment filed in April. The indictment alleged that Favret and Robert M. Craig, of North Carolina, conspired with a previously charged Ohio man, Ronald P. Bedra, to create the videos.

Bedra was convicted on similar charges and sentenced to 54 months in prison in October. Favret originally entered a not-guilty plea after she was arrested by officials in May and was released ahead of trial.

According to the indictment, Favret “sent instructions electronically to the videographer asking him to create a video in which he inserted a heated screwdriver into the anus of a monkey” in October 2021.

The indictment also included excerpts from online chats the Justice Department said were used amid the creation of the videos. “That cleared one out of my bucket list,” a co-conspirator allegedly wrote after a video of genital mutilation was shared.

With files from CTVNews.ca Journalist Daniel Otis