David Christopher Noble pleaded guilty Jan. 10, 2024, in federal court in Oregon to conspiring to engage in animal crushing as well as creating and distributing animal crush videos, according to the Justice Department. Noble was dismissed from the Air Force in 2006 following a court-martial conviction. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)

A former Air Force officer accused of crowdfunding graphic videos produced overseas of monkeys being tortured and killed pleaded guilty in federal court in Oregon this week and faces up to five years in prison.

David Christopher Noble, 48, entered the plea Wednesday on charges of conspiring to engage in animal crushing as well as creating and distributing animal crush videos, according to a Justice Department statement the same day. His sentencing is set for April 24.

Noble served six months in military detention and was dismissed from the Air Force in 2006 after being court-martialed for fraud and an unprofessional relationship, prosecutors said.

The DOJ statement said Noble was an officer but did not list his rank at the time of his expulsion.

Investigators searching Noble’s house found that his phone contained dozens of animal abuse videos, which prosecutors described as “stomach churning” and “horrific,” a government memo in June said.

Noble administered an online group in which for at least a year, members pooled funds to produce, brainstorm and share videos showing the torture and killing of monkeys in Indonesia, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they do not think the Indonesian videographers and the children who helped produce the videos would have done so without the funding and encouragement of Noble and others in the group.

As the administrator of the group, Noble decided on the admission of new members and used his control to remove members who were perceived to be “liabilities,” the indictment said.

The group was renamed multiple times in an apparent attempt to mask its purpose, with innocuous names such as German Shepherd Club, Walt Disney World Fans and Fall Foliage Folks, prosecutors said.

The DOJ statement gives Noble’s place of residence as Prineville, Ore., but he moved to the Las Vegas area last year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He was arrested in Henderson, Nev., in June, the Justice Department said.

In one instance, Noble sent money to fund a 10-minute video in which an infant monkey was slowly tortured and mutilated, prosecutors in Las Vegas said in a memo.

After the video was posted to the group, Noble messaged his approval and sent additional money as a tip, the memo said.

Authorities also found months of chat messages related to the videos, according to a grand jury indictment of Noble in May. In one message cited by Las Vegas prosecutors, he wrote, “I love the screams as his bones are shattered over and over!”

Investigators said Noble did not deny his involvement in the group but claimed his true intention was to prevent animal torture and expose such activities, according to court documents.