Florida Vet Found Guilty of Animal Cruelty & Child Porn Charges

October 13, 2021 Don Pumphrey, Jr. Criminal Defense, News & Announcements Social Share

The Disturbing Facts of the Case

This past March, 40-year-old Prentiss Madden, a veterinarian in Aventura, Florida, was arrested and later charged with child pornography and animal cruelty charges. Madden was a well-known and highly respected veterinarian in the area and, at the time of his arrest, served as the medical director of Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Aventura. Madden was found to be in possession of thousands of images of child pornography. He was also found to have made and shared several videos of him engaged in sexual acts with dogs, some of which were filmed at Caring Hands. He also received graphic images and videos of children and discussed sexually abusing children and animals over chat rooms on the internet. He plead guilty to charges of receiving child pornography, possession of child pornography, and creation of “animal crush” videos, which involve animals being harmed for gratification. On October 8th, he was sentenced by a federal court judge in Miami to the maximum sentence allowed under sentencing guidelines, approximately 272 months, or over 22 years, for his crimes.

According to the Department of Justice, the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative that was launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child abuse and sexual exploitation. 

Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act

Madden was the first to be charged in South Florida under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, a federal law that was implemented in 2019. The law bans the “intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impalement or other serious harm to living, non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians.”  Furthermore, the legislation also bans animal crush videos, or videos that depict animal cruelty. Anyone who commits animal crushing or creates or distributes animal crush videos may be fined under the title, imprisoned for up to 7 years, or both. Although each state has laws criminalizing animal cruelty, activists fought for the implementation of a federal law in order to prosecute animal cruelty cases that occur in more than one jurisdiction. 

Florida’s Bestiality Law

Bestiality is defined as sexual relations between a human being and an animal. Under Florida’s bestiality law, codified in Section 828.126 of the Florida Statutes, a person may not:

1. Knowingly engage in any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal;
2. Knowingly cause, aid, or abet another person to engage in any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal;
3. Knowingly permit any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal to be conducted on any premises under his or her charge or control; or
4. Knowingly organize, promote, conduct, advertise, aid, abet, participate in as an observer, or perform any service in the furtherance of an act involving any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal for a commercial or recreational purpose.

Anyone who violates this statute commits a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine. Penalties may increase for repeat offenders or if the animal was killed during the act.

Furthermore, Section 828.12 of the Florida Statutes codifies animal cruelty in Florida. Animal cruelty can be put categorized as either misdemeanor animal cruelty or felony animal cruelty. In cases of misdemeanor animal cruelty, there is an isolated event that results in harm to the animal, whereas felony animal cruelty involves excessive or repeated pain and suffering to an animal. Misdemeanor animal cruelty can result in imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to $5,000, or both. Felony animal cruelty can result in imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

This article was written by Sarah Kamide

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