Jacksonville Woman’s 51-Month “Mister Ape” Animal Crush Video Sentence Affirmed
Nicole Danielle Devilbiss, 35, was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos involving monkeys, and the Eleventh Circuit later affirmed that sentence.
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| SEO Enhanced Title | Nicole Devilbiss “Mister Ape” Animal Crush Video Conviction: 51-Month Federal Sentence Affirmed |
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| SEO Excerpt | Nicole Danielle Devilbiss, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos involving monkeys. She was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, and the Eleventh Circuit later affirmed the sentence. |
| Focus Keywords | Nicole Devilbiss, Nicole Danielle Devilbiss, Mister Ape, animal crush videos, Jacksonville animal cruelty conviction, monkey torture videos, HSI Jacksonville, Eleventh Circuit animal crushing sentence, federal animal cruelty case |
Summary
A federal animal cruelty case connected to an online animal crush video ring ended with a 51-month prison sentence for Nicole Danielle Devilbiss, a 35-year-old Jacksonville, Florida woman. Devilbiss pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos, and U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger later sentenced her to four years and three months in federal prison.
The case was linked in public reporting and advocacy discussion to the online name “Mister Ape,” but official federal records identify the convicted defendant as Nicole Danielle Devilbiss. Federal prosecutors described the underlying operation as an online group dedicated to the abuse, torture and death of monkeys. Members exchanged messages and videos and helped fund the creation of new animal crush videos involving baby and adult monkeys.
The investigation began in September 2023 when Homeland Security Investigations received information about a Jacksonville resident identified as an administrator of a social media or messaging application group chat. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, the group’s purpose was to fund, view, distribute and promote animal crush videos depicting extreme abuse of animals, specifically monkeys.
Federal prosecutors said the group arranged for animal crush videos to be created by videographers in other countries, including Indonesia, and then sent into the United States. The group allegedly changed names multiple times to ordinary-sounding titles that did not match its real purpose, apparently to avoid detection by law enforcement.
The payment trail became important evidence. Prosecutors said Devilbiss sent at least three payments through an online payment application between April 14, 2022 and May 23, 2023 to help fund the creation of animal crush videos. Investigators said the IP addresses from those transactions were tied to Devilbiss’s internet account at her residence.
Federal agents later executed a search warrant at Devilbiss’s home and seized electronic devices. Prosecutors said law enforcement found numerous videos depicting the torture of monkeys on those devices. At sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also reported that investigators found a journal describing Devilbiss’s interest in obtaining a monkey locally to abuse for additional content.
Devilbiss was arrested on October 31, 2023. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the criminal complaint the next day, saying she faced a federal charge of conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. She pleaded guilty on February 13, 2024. The guilty plea moved the case beyond the allegation stage and into a confirmed federal conviction.
On June 18, 2024, Devilbiss was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. Prosecutors said she had been in custody since her arrest. The sentence was close to the five-year statutory maximum for the federal conspiracy count, showing that the court treated the case as a serious animal-cruelty and exploitation offense.
The case then moved to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Devilbiss appealed her sentence, arguing that the district court wrongly applied an organizer-or-leader enhancement, wrongly denied her a zero-point offender reduction and imposed a sentence that was substantively unreasonable. On June 29, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the 51-month sentence.
The appellate opinion said Devilbiss had been part of a Telegram group that crowdfunded videos depicting animal abuse overseas. The court noted that she had held herself out as a lead administrator, exercised authority over the group and personally sent payments to help fund videos. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that the district court did not clearly err by applying the leadership enhancement and did not abuse its discretion by imposing the sentence.
The law at the center of the case was 18 U.S.C. § 48, the federal animal crushing statute, along with 18 U.S.C. § 371, the general conspiracy statute. Federal law defines animal crushing as conduct in which a living non-human mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury. The statute also prohibits creation and distribution of animal crush videos in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.
The victims in the case were the monkeys and other animals shown in the videos, especially baby and adult monkeys described by prosecutors. No individual animal names were publicly reported, but the harm described by federal authorities was direct, deliberate and tied to a demand-driven content market. This was not merely a case about possessing disturbing files. Prosecutors said the group funded and promoted the production of new cruelty videos.
This case stands out because the internet was not just a place where the videos circulated after the fact. Federal prosecutors described it as part of the machinery that created demand, moved money, coordinated production and spread the videos. The screen was not a passive window. It was the marketplace.
SEO alt text: Booking image of Nicole Danielle Devilbiss in the Jacksonville animal crush video conviction case.
SEO description: Booking image used with coverage of Nicole Danielle Devilbiss, the Jacksonville woman sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos involving monkeys.
Image source note: Crime Report image / public arrest coverage. Verify the original booking-image source before republishing as a mugshot.
Section 1: The Crime
The crime was conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. Federal prosecutors said Devilbiss participated in an online group that funded, viewed, promoted and distributed videos depicting the abuse and torture of monkeys.
Prosecutors said the group arranged for videos to be created overseas and sent into the United States. Devilbiss was tied to the conspiracy through group messages, payment records, IP address information and videos found on her devices after a federal search warrant.
Important wording note: This article avoids repeating graphic descriptions of the videos. The official case facts are severe enough without reproducing detailed torture content.
Section 2: Crime Location
The federal case was based in Jacksonville, Florida, where Devilbiss lived and where federal investigators traced online activity and payments. Prosecutors said some videos were created in other countries, including Indonesia, and then sent into the United States. Because the case involved foreign production, online payments and U.S. distribution, it was prosecuted federally.
Section 3: Date And Time Of Crime
The charged conspiracy involved activity from at least April 14, 2022 through May 23, 2023. Homeland Security Investigations received information about the online group in September 2023. Devilbiss was arrested on October 31, 2023, pleaded guilty on February 13, 2024, was sentenced on June 18, 2024, and had her sentence affirmed on appeal on June 29, 2026.
Section 4: Police Department
The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office also assisted. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Because this was a federal case, the most accurate agency description is a federal investigation led by HSI with local sheriff’s office support, rather than a single city police department case.
Section 5: Suspect Name
The defendant was identified as Nicole Danielle Devilbiss. Public references to “Mister Ape” appear to describe the online animal-crush-video world or persona connected to the case, but the federal conviction and sentence discussed here belong to Nicole Danielle Devilbiss.
Section 6: Suspect Age
Devilbiss was reported to be 35 years old in the federal plea and sentencing announcements.
Section 7: Charges
Devilbiss pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. The Eleventh Circuit described the conviction as conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 48(a)(2) and (3).
18 U.S.C. § 48 prohibits knowingly creating animal crush videos intended for distribution through interstate or foreign commerce, as well as selling, marketing, advertising, exchanging or distributing animal crush videos through interstate or foreign commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 371 is the general federal conspiracy statute, which provides a maximum punishment of five years in prison for covered felony conspiracies.
Section 8: Bond Amount
No public monetary bond amount was confirmed in the reviewed federal sources. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that Devilbiss had been in custody since her October 31, 2023 arrest. The safest wording is that she remained in custody from arrest through sentencing, rather than listing a bond amount.
Section 9: Conviction
Devilbiss pleaded guilty on February 13, 2024 to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. This is a confirmed federal conviction, not merely an arrest or pending allegation.
Section 10: Sentence
Devilbiss was sentenced on June 18, 2024 to four years and three months in federal prison. That equals 51 months. U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger imposed the sentence in the Middle District of Florida.
Devilbiss appealed the sentence, but the Eleventh Circuit affirmed it on June 29, 2026. The appellate court rejected her arguments about the leadership enhancement, the zero-point offender reduction and the overall reasonableness of the prison term.
Section 11: Outcome
The final reported outcome is a guilty plea, a 51-month federal prison sentence and an appellate affirmance. Devilbiss’s appeal did not undo the prison sentence. The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court did not commit reversible error and that the sentence was within the permissible range.
Section 12: Victim
The victims were the animals depicted in the animal crush videos, especially baby and adult monkeys described by federal prosecutors. The animals were not individually named in public federal announcements. The harm included abuse, torture and killing committed to create videos for paying or participating viewers.
The broader victim interest also includes animal welfare and the public interest in preventing markets for torture content. Prosecutors described the group as demand-driven: members did not merely watch existing videos, they helped finance the creation of more.
Section 13: Victim Name
No individual animal victim names were reported in the reviewed federal sources. The victims should be described as baby and adult monkeys and other animals depicted in the animal crush videos.
Section 14: Victim Age
The U.S. Attorney’s Office described monkeys of various ages, including baby and adult monkeys. No exact animal ages were reported in the reviewed sources.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida: Jacksonville Woman Sentenced To Over 4 Years In Federal Prison For Conspiracy To Create And Distribute Animal Crush Videos
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida: Jacksonville Woman Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Create And Distribute Animal Crush Videos
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida: Jacksonville Woman Arrested For Conspiracy To Create And Distribute Animal Crush Videos
- Justia: USA v. Nicole Devilbiss, No. 24-12252, Eleventh Circuit opinion affirming sentence
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel: 18 U.S.C. § 48, Animal crushing
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel: 18 U.S.C. § 371, Conspiracy to commit offense or defraud United States
- Crime Report: Animal Cruelty Verdict: “Mister Ape” Convicted for Brutal Animal Crushing
