Truck Driver Arrested For Sexually Abusing Dogs, Distributing Graphic Torture Videos Online

A truck driver from Kent County, Michigan, who is currently residing in Ohio, has been arrested for sexually assaulting dogs and making graphic torture videos that he distributed online.

The police arrested Lucas Russell VanWoert, 25, last week for producing a series of "animal crush" videos and other graphic material, as per federal court records, Law & Crime reported.

The investigation began after a 51-year-old Australian man was arrested by U.S. and Australian authorities in April in connection with an animal cruelty video titled "1Bitch9Pups" circulated online. While examing the electronic devices seized from the man, investigators learned about an individual nicknamed "Graves" who exchanged approximately 705 files of animal abuse with him.

The cops identified the suspect as VanWoert and tracked him down after one of the torture videos showed his face. The investigators also determined that Graves was Vanwoert's online name under which he distributed animal cruelty videos.

During an interview with the cops, VanWoert accepted the charges. He confessed to engaging in sex acts, beating, and strangling a dog while he was in Grand Rapids, and disposing of the animal's body in a dumpster.

While executing a search at his current residence in Ohio, cops found three dogs in poor health conditions and a fourth dog buried in the backyard, The Detroit News reported.

According to Timothy Kruithoff, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, one of the graphic videos showed VanWoert dismembering a dog's tongue using a hunting knife and posing with it in front of the camera.

"I am going to be sick. This just does not sound like my son, not in my wildest dreams. Lucas has always been a huge animal-rights person. We always loved animals. He tried to protect animals." VanWoert's mother said responding to her son's arrest, as per The Detroit News.

VanWoert is indicted on four counts of creating animal crush videos and four counts of distributing them. He could face sentencing up to seven years in federal prison. He is currently held at the Lucas County Corrections Center in Toledo.

Animal crush videos typically depict women in stilettos crushing, stomping, or impaling small, helpless animals to satisfy the fetishes of sadistic viewers. It was made illegal in 1999. While the Supreme Court later struck down the law banning the videos, it was made illegal again in 2010.