Miami man accused of selling videos of dogs killed on internet for sexual fetish

Jay Weaver, Miami Herald on Feb 20, 2026

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A Miami man is accused of selling sadistic internet videos in which someone stomps dogs and other animals to death to satisfy viewers’ sexual fetishes.

Francisco Javier Ravelo, 47, a former contractor for the U.S. Air Force in Florida, is charged with distributing videos over the internet that show animals — from dogs to primates — being severely injured or killed for sexual gratification on at least 42 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025, according to federal prosecutors.

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.

‘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 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.

In Miami, the federal court record offers few details of Ravelo’s alleged animal-abuse crime. Ravelo, who is also known as “Tony F---ing Montana,” according to his charging document, was granted a $100,000 bond. But there was one key condition: He was prohibited him from accessing Facebook, Instagram and other social media.

His Miami defense lawyer, Michael Mirer, declined to comment on Thursday. Ravelo is scheduled to change his initial plea of not guilty to guilty on March 2 in Miami federal court to a single count of distributing animal “crush videos,” which carries up to seven years in prison.

The animal crushing law has rarely been charged in this 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 about 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 through 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 about 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 — unlike pervasive internet child-porn prosecutions — 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

On Wednesday, 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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,” she said.