Richmond Man Sentenced for Conspiracy to Create and Distribute Animal Crush Videos

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Richmond, Ky., man, Kendall Hacker, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves to 30 months in prison, for conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos.

Animal crushing is defined under federal criminal law 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 his plea agreement, on November 4, 2021, through June 21, 2022, Hacker sent money through online payment applications to online group chats in which Hacker and other co-conspirators were members, for the purpose of creating, funding, and receiving animal crush videos. Co-conspirators outside the United States received this funding and used it create animal crush videos. Hacker possessed animal crush videos on his phone, including one that depicted a juvenile monkey being tortured with a jar of ants and sexually assaulted with an object that caused the juvenile monkey’s death. 

Under federal law, Hacker must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years. 

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; and Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by HSI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Greenfield is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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