Veterinarian arrested on charges of child porn, sexually abusing dogs

A veterinarian was arrested Tuesday on federal charges that say he possessed child pornography and also sexually abused dogs, authorities said.

Prentiss Madden, 40, was the medical director at Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Aventura, where federal agents say he committed at least one of the crimes. Agents received a cyber tip that an IP address linked to Madden’s home repeatedly accessed a cloudbased file-sharing service that contained images of child pornography, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

Agents searched Madden’s home with a warrant and found a cellphone they believe to be Madden’s that contained several sexually explicit videos and images of children, as well as chats that discussed the sexual abuse of children and animals, the release said.

Some of the chats contained images that appeared to be Madden engaged in sexual activity with dogs, the release said. Agents also discovered more than 1,000 images of child pornography and other animal abuse in Madden’s file sharing account, the release said.

One of the images showing Madden’s alleged bestiality is digitally coded as having been taken at Caring Hands Animal Hospital, the release said.

The hospital said in a statement released Wednesday that it fired Madden two weeks ago after it learned he was under investigation for “these heinous and unthinkable crimes.”

The criminal complaint charges Madden with one count of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography and one count of animal crushing, a federal law that outlaws animal abuse that was initially created in response to a genre of cruelty in which people record animal abuse for the sexual gratification of viewers.

If convicted, Madden faces up to 37 years in prison, the release said. His detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in magistrate court in Miami.