Florida vet accused of sexually abusing a dog

A South Florida veterinarian has been accused of sexually abusing a dog and being in possession of child pornography, authorities have said.

A South Florida veterinarian has been accused of sexually abusing a dog and being in possession of child pornography, authorities have said.

Prentiss Madden, 40, appeared in court where he was ordered on Wednesday to be held pending a bond hearing, news station WTVJ reported.

An investigation was launched into the vet after the file-sharing web service Dropbox notified authorities about a user with more than 1600 files of suspected child porn.

The files were traced to an IP address registered to Madden’s home in Aventura, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday.

Homeland Security agents raided his home on February 24 and found files in which Madden discussed “the sexual abuse of animals and children” as well as multiple photos and videos depicting bestiality, the complaint said.

RELATED: Loophole for animal sex perpetrators

Veterinarian Prentiss Madden was arrested and accused of possessing child pornography and sexually abusing a dog in his care. Picture: Caring Hands Animal Hospital

Another explicit video appeared to have been taken at Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Miami.

Madden served as medical director there until he was fired two weeks ago when colleagues learned that he was under investigation, the hospital said.

“This leads me to believe that Madden may be abusing animals entrusted to his care,” Agent Leah Ortiz wrote in the complaint.

RELATED: ‘Worst videos I’ve seen’: Death clips banned

Prentiss Madden had served as medical director at Caring Hands Animal Hospital before he was fired. Picture: Caring Hands Animal Hospital

Caring Hands Animal Hospital said in a statement that they were “appalled by the nature of the charges” against the former staffer.

“Our legal team and every single member of the Caring Hands family will be doing everything in our power to aid law enforcement and facilitate their investigation and prosecution,” they said in a statement provided to WTVJ.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission