By miami herald

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An Aventura veterinarian was arrested on Tuesday on allegations he possessed a trove of child pornography — and also sexually abused dogs.

Federal agents took Prentiss Madden, 40, into custody on charges of possession of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and animal abuse. Madden, the medical director of Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Aventura, is being held at Miami’s Federal Detention Center.

On Wednesday, during his first court appearance, a judge ordered he be held until at least Friday, when another hearing will be held to determine whether he can be released to await trial.

On Tuesday afternoon, the hospital’s website still listed him as its medical director. His profile was taken down after news of his arrest broke. On Wednesday morning, the hospital said in a statement that it fired Madden two weeks ago after it learned he was under investigation for “these heinous and unthinkable crimes.”

“Our legal team, and every single member of the Caring Hands family will be doing everything in our power to aid law enforcement and facilitate their investigation and prosecution,” the statement read.

Madden is charged under a federal law that outlaws animal abuse, one that was initially created in response to a genre of cruelty in which people video record the harming of animals for the sexual gratification of viewers.

This appears to be the first time in South Florida that someone has been charged under the law. The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2019, makes the production of torture videos punishable by up to seven years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday, the investigation began when authorities received a cybertip from Dropbox, the file-sharing web service, that a user had received over 1,600 files of suspected child pornography. Agents traced the files to Madden’s home.

Agents from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) raided his home on Feb. 24, seizing phones and a computer. According to the complaint, agents found private social-media chats with other uses in which Madden is believed to have discussed “the sexual abuse of animals and children.”

In one chat, someone believed to be Madden also brags about a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy from Orlando.

The complaint also alleges that Madden had on his phones multiple photos and videos of images “depicting bestiality,” files that were digitally coded as having been taken at his home.

In his chat, Madden shared the graphic images and admits in detail to having sex with and abusing dogs, according to the criminal complaint. “I was keeping a dog that needed a home,” he allegedly wrote in one chat.

Another explicit video was traced as having been taken at the Helping Hands animal hospital in May 2018. “This leads me to believe that Madden may be abusing animals entrusted to his care,” HSI Agent Leah Ortiz wrote in the complaint

According to his vet clinic bio, the Alabama native graduated from the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Dr. Madden is the proud pet parent of one Shih Tzu, Lucky, and two Burmese pythons, Mocha and Sherbert. In his free time he enjoys traveling, eating, hiking, snorkeling and being an aquarium hobbyist,” the bio said.

He’d also been praised online. “Dr. Madden is incredible and a very empathetic vet. He listens to us and really makes me feel safe when putting my dog’s health in his hands,” one client wrote on Yelp.

Animal abuse cases are not unusual in South Florida, but they are usually charged in state court.

Among those charged by state prosecutors in recent years: a man who beat his Beagle puppy to death, a teen who lit a caged cat on fire, an Instagram model who kicked her puppy, a man who conducted botched amateur dog surgeries and several accused of hoarding animals in squalid conditions.

Videos depicting the abuse of animals also occupy a dark corner of the internet.

In 2014, the Herald chronicled the life of Adam Redford, a boat captain who became South Florida’s secret purveyor of “crush porn” — X-rated videos featuring women graphically slaughtering chickens, rabbits and hogs. Redford was not charged, and two fetish “models” had their animal cruelty cases dropped because of the statute of limitations.

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