Twenty-one-year-old Christian Nichols of Oldsmar, Florida has been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly raping his Siberian Husky and posting videos of the violent sexual assault online.

The Pinellas County Florida Sheriff Office‘s Investigative Operations Bureau Crimes Against Children Unit received a tip back in January. Investigators were able to obtain video and photos that Nichols allegedly posted online.

Nichols is charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a third-degree felony. Per Florida law, it’s punishable by up to five years in prison with a fine of not more than $10,000. He was also charged with 10 first-degree misdemeanor obscenity charges, namely the “prohibition of certain acts” in connection with “materials,” in this case, photographs and videos. The penalty on conviction for a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida is a definite term of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year.

He was initially held on a total of $10,000 bond at the Pinellas County lockup and bonded out late Tuesday.

The details surrounding the charges that Nichols stands accused of may be disturbing for some readers.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Police Say Nichols Recorded Himself, Dressed in a ‘Furry’ Siberian Husky Costume, Violently Sexually Assaulting His Own Dog

Pinellas County Sheriff’s investigators say that in the video, Nichols is dressed in a black and white Husky furry dog costume and, “…using his penis and multiple penis-shaped sex toys (had) inappropriate sexual contact with a Siberian Husky dog.”

It’s reported that Nichols purchased and created sex “toys” and devices depicting genitalia. These are images that Nicholas posted on social media and other platforms some used in preparations for the attack.

A detailed narration by the person who directed authorities to the video follows:

“The video which was posted by Mr. Nichols then eventually leaked online was exceptionally disturbing, as anyone in full possession of their faculties would be disturbed. The video starts with Ember’s ears down which canine behavior studies indicate this signals the dog is submissive or afraid. He then starts abusing the dog with his hand, afterward Ember tries to flee from the abuse by running but she is ultimately not able to escape the perpetual hell she’s had to face for years. Mr. Nichols brings Ember back to the bed and proceeds to rape her with an animal sex toy he purchased from Bad-Dragon, an online retailer of various dildos and masturbation sex toys influenced from animals both. The dog clearly in severe discomfort as the toy is quite large attempts to escape again but is unable to flee from Mr. Nichols grasp. He resumes shoving the toy down her throat before getting another toy, which appears to be one he made himself or one purchased elsewhere, which is even larger. As the abuse continues, he opens her mouth before inserting his own penis. He then abuses her from behind by penetrating the anus with his fingers, then inserts the same fingers into her mouth again before attempting to shove the Bad-Dragon dildo into her mouth. The video ends with the dog running away, but not before Mr. Nichols strikes her with the exceptionally large dildo.”

2. Nichols’ Siberian Husky, Ember, Was ‘Clearly Distressed’ While Being Sexually Assaulted, Police Said

Detectives say the dog named Ember is seen in the video “clearly in distress…(and) at one point during the video, the dog tries to run away and the man responds by striking the dog with a sex toy.”

Authorities did not provide the dog’s age or condition nor was it clear if this was the first time he allegedly assaulted his dog.

A “person from another state,” who’d seen the videos and photos contacted authorities first in Ohio and then in Florida when he saw the rape fo the dog posted online.

First St. Petersburg, Florida animal services officials were contacted as the man knew where Nichols lived. That agency, in turn, called the sheriff. Florida detectives began their investigation on Jan. 25 and obtained copies of the video and the photographs and through “various investigative techniques,” traced the video and photographs back to Nichols.

On Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, detectives “made contact with Nichols …(who) admitted to detectives he made the video with his Siberian Husky, Ember, and shared it on the internet.”

Nichols, whose full name is Christian Stewart Oscar Nichols, is originally from Maryland, authorities said.

He was arrested, booked and charged Monday.

3. Nichols Has a Bizarre Online Persona That Has For Years Featured Him as a Wolf & Creator of Sex ‘Toys’ in the Shape of Animal Penises But Evolved Into Something Even More Disturbing. Until a Tipster Reported Him

The tipster is Conor Goodwolf. And the crime is known as zoosadism.

I've published a post on The Arrest of EliteKnighthttps://t.co/kvPNznmQff — Connor Goodwolf (@CGoodwolf) February 12, 2019

Goodwolf just posted a blog that details his efforts to have Nichols stopped. On his blog are extremely graphic images from Nichols’ online presence, not on sites like Facebook or Instagram though.

“In September of 2018, there was a leak posted on Mega which contained logs, images and videos of specific users engaged, traded and shared materials relating to zoophilia and zoosadism. Shortly after the leaks were made public many on the Internet grew concerned to help track down people who were involved in the group. This lead to communities and individuals investigating contents of the leak including finding out personal information of the involved parties,” he wrote. “After going through the evidence I felt absolutely sickened as most of the materials were not just zoophilia. The majority of the evidence bundled in the leak contained imagery where animals were bleeding, bound, dead and sexually abused.”

Goodwolf knew Christian Stewart Oscar Nichols as “EliteKnight,” a part of a group that does 3D Printing, CNC machines, laser cutting and etching. But Goodwolf found Nicholas also “owned the group called ‘Dongsmiths’ which was dedicated to the creation of adult fantasy sex toys. Many of the toys created in the group were dildos depicting various animal penises like canines, felines, horses and creatures of fantasy.”

Goodwolf explained that when Nichols was in his early teens, he “developed a passion for wolves which grew into an online persona called CoreyTWC” and joined a group of like-minded people who actually believe they are wolves.

“During this time he drew various art depicting a feral wolf designed with black and white markings depicting his character. He also involved himself with the furry fandom …” But soon went from furry fascination to drawings that showed “characters engaged in sexual conduct,” he wrote.

On his CoreyTheWolfTWC account on FurAffinity, Nichols wrote that he’d share artwork on the site but added he’d try to keep it safe-for-work.

” …ill try my best to keep all my junk on here SFW and Furry related. And ill have a separate profile for any NSFW stuff eventually, and anything I do not furry related will be posted to a FB page once I make one and my DA once I get back to using it xD. So yay welcome me to this website ive heard nothing but good things about ha ha … ha… fuck. I’m sure ill enjoy myself here either way.”

You can read Nichols’ CoreyTWC journal here.

When Nichols posted the “fursuit head made of his character which he used in the video abusing his Siberian Husky named Ember,” Goodwolf contacted police where he lives. Authorities were interested he said, but crimes against animals were less of a priority than crimes against children so there was no follow-up.

Goodwolf called Florida.

In numerous posts, Nichols states that he has mental health issues, namely extreme social anxiety but that being on the platform Telegram helped him. He was in therapy, he wrote a month ago and thought he was making progress.

4. Nichols Criticized the Furry Fandom For Not Being More Supportive of Him Given it is ‘Fetish-Driven.’ His Artwork Consists of Wolf Images Mostly With Disturbing Themes

“Furries Are a fetish. Plain and simple. Every popular fursuiter you see, probably has sex in their fursuit or at least has used it in some form of sexual exploit like sending nudes or something similar. There are very very few suiters I think left who don’t truly at least dabble in the sexual side of things. Of all the artwork in this entire fandom which is created which do you see most often? which is most talked about? is it the gorgeous works of artists like Falvie? The wonderous creations of SFW artist? No. It’s porn.”

Which ironically, he stands charged with himself.

In a Vanity Fair article from 2001, furries are explained and the bizarre, and for many disturbing, the sexual aspect of furrydom has some parallels with this case. A furry the magazine spoke with said he’d “experimented with bestiality.”

“Usually German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, size-compatible things. It all started because the dog started it. The dog would come and start trying to hump your leg and I’d be like, Wow, that’s interesting. I was at that age where I was learning to see what made things work. I don’t do it anymore.”

Furries: “It’s not even a sex thing” https://t.co/2dW8isQRhN — Aaron (@guildwarsmonk) February 12, 2019

Ranker noted in an article about furries that there’s a specific sex slang the fandom uses and in a cursory online search, it was not difficult to locate furry pornography including bestiality.

https://t.co/J4Mhi5EPFT This piece of shit gives furries a bad reputation. He recorded himself in a fursuit doing this shit.

We're going to keep removing this trash from our fandom. — ArvuReBantra (@ArvuReBantra) February 12, 2019

But some furries are speaking out against Nichols: “This piece of shit gives furries a bad reputation. He recorded himself in a fursuit doing this shit. We’re going to keep removing this trash from our fandom.”

all these weird furries that defend a convicted sex offender have "Smol" in their bios. beware any cutesy adult. they are predators. heckin smol soft predator doggos. — foremost presidential historian cardi b (@AKvltGentleman) February 8, 2019

Nichols is also a member of a wolf fandom called Wehrmacht_Furs.

A place for “those who enjoy studying and analyzing the German armed forces from WWII. It’s a group for WWII history loving furs. We study the Kriegsmarine, Heer, Luftwaffe, Fallschirmjäger, SS, and Waffen SS.”

5. Ember & Another Dog Were Removed From Nichols’ House. The Case Comes as Animal Cruelty, Including Bestiality, Would be a Federal Felony Under a Proposed New Law

Pinellas County Animal Services have taken custody of Ember and another dog at Nichols’ house.

The timing of this case highlights legislative efforts to make animal cruelty a felony under federal law.

Florida Democrat, Rep. Ted Deutch, and Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican who represents Sarasota, brought the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture, the PACT Act to Congress on Jan. 23.

Among the long list of acts against animals that would be prosecuted under the law includes sex acts performed on animals and as the Humane Society Legal Fund wrote, “banning the trade in so-called “crush videos”—obscene videos that show animals being subjected to terrible cruelty and suffering for the titillation of perverted viewers.”