Carver man federally indicted with 16 counts of animal crushing
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A Carver man who allegedly made animal torture YouTube videos under the channel “Prince’s Chomp Squad” was federally indicted with 16 counts of animal crushing and made his first appearance in court Wednesday.
Bryan Wesley Edison, 32, created hundreds of videos between at least July 2022 and October 2023, in which he filmed small animals being consumed by larger reptiles, according to the indictment.
Edison also allegedly posted videos to a channel entitled “Prince’s Pet Planet,” where he charged people $1 to $100 a month for members-only videos, with the most “graphic torture” videos behind a paywall. At the highest end of the pay scale, he created “custom” videos.
Edison allegedly attempted to rack in more viewers through clickbait that played up torture, with descriptors including “slow death” and “THAT REALLY HURTS.”
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In some videos, Edison added commentary — making comments like “there’s nothing I can do to save you” and “the squeal of displeasure, now the panic sets in.”
The videos included hamsters, guinea pigs and birds being crushed, drowned, suffocated and impaled by larger animals on tape.
Edison charged for merchandise as well. In total, he allegedly profited at least $1,500 from his YouTube videos, which were ultimately taken down by the social media site for violating a policy on violence.
The case came as a result of an FBI investigation.
