Officials Demand Ban on Animal ‘Crush Tapes’

Ventura County’s top law enforcement officials joined U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly on Monday to announce the introduction of legislation to ban the distribution of videotapes that show cruelty to small animals.

The so-called “crush tapes” depict women crushing small animals underfoot.

“This is something so horrible and so despicable that it has to end,” Gallegly said at a news conference in Simi Valley. Also in attendance were Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury, Sheriff Bob Brooks and actor Mickey Rooney, an animal-rights advocate.

“The fact that people are making money at this is an atrocity, and it’s an atrocity that we can end,” said Gallegly (R-Simi Valley).

Although unknown to most people, demand for the tapes has spawned a cottage industry that Gallegly estimated generates almost $1 million a year.

The videos, which sell for as much as $100 apiece and go by titles such as “Vicious in Las Vegas” and “Mistress Di, Princess of Death,” are frequently graphic.

They depict women, some in stiletto heels, stepping on small animals that have been taped, tied or stapled to the floor.

Although most involve killing mice, rats and guinea pigs, some show a monkey being trampled.

That has law enforcement officials concerned.

“We believe their desire for larger animals may, at some point, result in the death of a human being,” Bradbury said.

The matter first came to the attention of county authorities in May 1998, after New York law enforcement officials and the Humane Society notified Bradbury’s office that a Thousand Oaks man was producing and distributing the videos through his Los Angeles-based company, Steponit Productions.

Although the unidentified man has since stopped producing the tapes, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Connors said the man is currently under investigation and that information may soon be handed over to a grand jury for possible indictments.

Officials said the videos are marketed almost exclusively through the Internet, where more than 2,000 titles can be found.

In addition, there are Web sites and chat rooms where crush-tape consumers can peruse upcoming releases and discuss their fetish.

To avoid 1st Amendment objections, Gallegly said his legislation is narrowly worded to prohibit the distribution of the videos across state and international boundaries.

If the bill is passed by Congress, violators could be subject to a fine and as much as five years in prison.

The legislation is set to go before a House committee next month.

Although law enforcement officials said they would like to target the producers of the videos, they said the tapes hardly ever show faces and their sales leave little or no paper trail for investigators to follow.

A Ventura County undercover investigator was able to tip police in Los Angeles County to the activities of a Gary Lynn Thomason, who is suspected of making crush tapes. The investigation eventually led to the arrest of Diane Aileen Chaffin of La Puente, who was charged last week with three counts of torturing, maiming and killing mice during a video that Thomason is suspected of filming.

During Chaffin’s preliminary hearing Thursday in West Covina, prosecutors say they will show a crush tape of her in high heels, stomping rodents to death.

Chaffin, 35, has been jailed in lieu of $45,000 bail since her arrest. Thomason, 47, is still at large. A $45,000 warrant for his arrest has been issued.

A three-year statute of limitations prohibits authorities from prosecuting in many cases, because they cannot prove when a video was made.

Rooney, who attended the news conference with his wife, Jan, said he decided to endorse the legislation because of his long-standing commitment to animal rights.

“Is this the kind of world we want to hand down to our children?” Rooney asked. “This is sickening and despicable stuff that needs to end.”