- Minnesota, USA -
⚠️WARNING⚠️The article contains details some of you may find distressing⚠️
Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joseph H. Thompson announced that 32-year-old BRYAN WESLEY EDISON (pictured) of Carver, has been federally indicted with sixteen counts of animal crushing.
EDISON is accused of running pay-per-view animal torture YouTube channels.
According to the press release issued by the Office of the U.S Attorney for Minnesota, EDISON “created hundreds of videos showing animals being tortured, drowned, dismembered, disemboweled, attacked, and killed, which he published and sold on his pay-per-view YouTube channels.”
As stated in the press release, since 2022, EDISON operated pay-per-view YouTube channels that depicted animals being crushed and tortured for his and his viewers’ “sadistic enjoyment.”
EDISON created and then posted nearly 350 videos, in which he purposefully placed live animals, including but not limited to birds, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, mice, rabbits, and snapping turtles, into artificial enclosures such as a playpen, a bathtub, and a shower.
The press release stated that EDISON would sometimes costume the animals or set up a “scenario” where the torture would take place. He would then create crush videos in which the defenseless animals suffered prolonged torture and death through impalement, crushing, drowning, suffocating, and being skinned and dismembered alive by the larger animals.
Prosecutors allege EDISON allowed the public to freely access some videos. Other videos required a subscription by the user. EDISON set up different “membership” levels offered for $0.99, $9.99, $44.99, or $99.99 per month, with the latter being granted access to “custom” videos commissioned by the member. EDISON advertised that the videos with the most graphic torture were behind the membership paywalls.
It is stated in the press release that EDISON “developed logos for his channels and advertised merchandise offered for sale bearing those logos.” Additionally, he attempted to drive viewers to his YouTube pages with “clickbait” that emphasized the torture aspects of the videos, using titles and descriptors such as “slow death,” “shred,” “cracks head open,” “screaming,” “tear apart,” “kills mouse brutally,” and “THAT REALLY HURTS.”
EDISON narrated many of the videos he created. His commentary included, “Shredder, do your worst,” “the poor black bunny is losing air by the second,” “there’s nothing I can do to save you,” “the squeal of displeasure, now the panic sets in,” and “gurgling screams.”
EDISON’s animal crush channels were removed by YouTube for multiple and severe violations of YouTube’s policy on violence.
EDISON made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, before Magistrate Judge David Schultz.
KARE 11 reports that assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Hollenhorst rightfully argued for EDISON to be jailed as he awaits trial and said to Schultz: “He’s clearly depraved in some way. I can’t pinpoint how. We believe he’s a danger not just to animals but to himself and others. We strenuously seek detention.”
EDISON’s defense attorney, Kate Adams, argued that the crime “is not serious enough and other factors, such as a potential failure to appear at future hearings, don’t apply to him.”
Schultz agreed with the defense attorney but stayed his decision for 24 hours to give prosecutors a chance to appeal the decision to District Judge John Tunheim.
Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joseph H. Thompson said in a written statement: “Animal crushing is not only sickening, it is a federal crime. When someone takes pleasure in the torture of defenseless animals, it signals a deeper danger to our community. Especially in these troubled times, we will not allow these warning signs to go unchecked.”
In his press release he also reminded that in 2019, President Trump overhauled and expanded the “Crush Video Statute” with the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (“PACT Act”) to make it unlawful for any person to purposely engage in animal “crushing,” that is, purposely crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, or otherwise subjecting to serious bodily injury living mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians. This act recognized that individuals who intentionally torture and kill animals pose a unique danger to others and to society as a whole.
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Voice For Us Disclaimer: This story is sourced from the press release by the Office of the U.S Attorney for Minnesota. Please note that details may be removed or new information added should updates become available.
In the case of charges being dropped, dismissed, or the case being purged, this article will be rectified accordingly, if official documentation is provided to Voice For Us.
EDISON’s mugshot shared from the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office.
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