Prentiss Madden, 40, faces up to 87 years in prison for child pornography and sodomy
A Florida veterinarian faces up to 87 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting dogs at his veterinary clinic and possession of tons of child porn in federal court Thursday.
Prentiss Madden, 40, also pleaded guilty to creating “crush videos” of animals being trampled, trampled or beaten to death for sexual satisfaction.
Madden was the medical director of Caring Hands Animal Hospital in the Aventura suburb of Miami until he was released two weeks before his arrest in March.
On Thursday, an unsealed criminal complaint revealed how he described the abuse of dogs with sex toys, his hands and his penis, according to Vice.
The US Attorney’s Office has not released pictures of Madden’s devices, according to the Miami New Times, leaving former customers in the dark as to whether their pets have been molested.
“I thought he was great,” pet owner Scott Pruch told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. “At first we thought that a dog would never have been harmed there. Then we find out it’s a lot worse than we thought. ‘
A lead was given to investigators last year after Dropbox alerted them to a user who uploaded 1,600 files suspected of child pornography and animal abuse. Upstairs, Prentiss Madden
Pruch said he referred several friends to the clinic, and Madden in particular.
The complaint against Madden included an exchange of text in May 2019 in which Madden told another person that he was holding a brown and white dog he was sexually engaging in because he “needed a home.”
“What pissed me off is the good chance it could have been Pamela – she fit the description,” said Pruch, referring to his brown and white Shih Tzu named Pamela Anderson.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office later confirmed that the dog in the photo with Madden wasn’t a Shih Tzu.
Reviews for Dr. Madden on his clinic’s Yelp page had been mostly positive until he was arrested earlier this year.
‘Look no further!’ one person wrote in September 2018, “You won’t regret going to this vet.”
Madden also admitted accessing child porn, getting the pictures through social media chats, and producing and sharing videos of himself engaging in sexual activities with dogs, the Justice Department said.
He also pleaded guilty to three child pornography receipts and one of child pornography possession.
Reviews for Dr. Madden on Yelp was positive until he was arrested in early March
A hearing for the verdict is scheduled for October 8 at 11:30 a.m. Madden faces a minimum sentence of five years.
Investigators were given a tip last year after the file-sharing web service Dropbox informed them that a user had received more than 1,600 files with suspected child pornography according to a criminal complaint.
The files were accessed multiple times through an internet protocol address that was traced back to Madden’s home and the veterinary clinic where he worked, authorities say.
When agents raided Madden’s house on February 24th, he allegedly admitted to being the owner of the Dropbox account.
Authorities say they found multiple files of social media chats in which Madden spoke about “the sexual abuse of animals and children” and shared numerous videos and pictures with unidentified people.
The complaint alleges that Madden also has several photos and videos of images that “depict bestiality”.
Madden was the medical director of the Caring Hands Animal Hospital in suburban Miami
Some of the images of animal cruelty were digitally encoded as if they were taken at his home, the complaint said.
Another explicit video was recorded at the veterinary clinic in May 2018.
“This leads me to believe that Madden may be abusing animals entrusted to him,” FBI agent Leah Ortiz wrote in the ad.
His profile on the Caring Hands Animal Hospital website was removed after his arrest.
Madden is charged with child pornography possession, receiving child pornography, and animal abuse. He is due to be sentenced on October 8th
Madden, a native of Northern Alabama, described himself in the now-deleted profile as the “proud pet parent” of a Shih Tzu named Lucky and two Burmese pythons named Mocha and Sherbert.
He attended Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine.
The hospital issued a statement after his arrest describing Madden’s alleged crimes as “heinous and unthinkable”.
“Our legal team and each and every member of the Caring Hands family will do everything in our power to assist law enforcement and facilitate their investigation and prosecution,” the hospital said in a statement.
Madden’s charges come under federal law banning animal abuse, originally created in response to a genre of cruelty in which humans record harm to animals for the sexual gratification of viewers.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Torture Act, signed by President Donald Trump in 2019, provides that the production of torture videos is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Madden is being held in Miami Federal Prison.