An Iowa attorney has been arrested for allegedly making and sharing sick videos in which monkeys were tortured, sexually abused and killed.
Philip Colt Moss, 41, is accused of working with at least two other previously indicted men — Nicholas Dryden of Ohio and Giancarlo Morelli of New Jersey — in creating so-called “animal crush videos,” federal prosecutors said.
They used encrypted messaging apps to pay an underage boy in Indonesia to buy monkeys — preferably babies — to torture and kill on camera, the indictment alleges.
The videos “included depictions of monkeys having their genitals burned, having their genitals cut with scissors, being sodomized with a wooden skewer, and being sodomized with a spoon,” federal prosecutors said.
In February through April last year, Moss sent Dryden $1,447 for the videos — and even planned to take a trip to Indonesia with him to make “animal crush” videos together, according to the indictment.
Dryden even offered sick freebies, according to the indictment, which quoted a text message reading: “If ur low on bread brother I’ll throw u a couple for free.”
Moss was arrested Aug. 8 and charged in US District Court in Cincinnati with conspiracy to create and distribute the videos, prosecutors said. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. Dryden and Morelli were indicted in June and are awaiting trial.
Moss’s X account states he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and says he is an attorney at Wandro & Associates, where he “represents clients as a trial lawyer.”
However, Wandro & Associates told The Post on Monday that Moss had been terminated from his job over five years ago.
“We are completely shocked and disgusted,” an associate at the firm said, acknowledging it had been made aware of the allegations made against Moss.
Moss also authored several blog posts — claiming that he “has loved animals since he was a small boy.”
“Today, Colt Moss still has an affinity and a soft spot for animals, especially dogs and horses,” one entry reads.
The Des Moines Register previously reported that Moss pleaded guilty to felony drug charges in 2017 and was sentenced to two years of probation after authorities found marijuana, hash, painkillers and other drugs during a search of his townhouse.
Moss took a leave of absence from work after the drug bust and checked into an eight-week rehab, according to the report.
According to the Animal Welfare Institute, crush videos typically depict women in stilettos or bare feet crushing, stomping on or impaling small, helpless animals to satisfy the “bizarre sexual fetishes of sadistic viewers.”
The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010, introduced by former California Rep. Elton Gallegly, amended federal criminal codes to prohibit the creation and distribution of animal crush videos.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service and FBI investigated the case, authorities said.
