Dogpatch Press

Content warning for animal abuse and sexual violence. 

In September 2021, Washington furry fan Matthew “Cupid” Grabowsky was convicted for a new charge of child porn possession. He faces up to 20 years in jail. This revives news of his 2019 animal cruelty conviction, which drew protest about his continued presence in the furry fan community. We’ll look into how Cupid was convicted this time, but first let’s look at how this supports a deeper story about a crime ring he was in.

NEW CORROBORATION: 2019 reporting by Dogpatch Press featured Cupid in the headline, and claimed a deeper story.

The 2019 report here covered a big leak of a furry/zoophile crime ring for animal torture porn (zoosadism) and child abuse. Think movie serial-killer-like behavior. Hundreds of hours of investigation found a “matrix of corroboration”. Legal documents for Cupid’s new conviction add more evidence:

• There’s new disclosure of serious crime predating August 2018; the same time period in the Dogpatch Press report.
• Cupid’s 2019 conviction was a misdemeanor that let him off easy, indicating he gained a plea deal that let him come back and minimize his crime.
• Cupid’s 2021 charge led to immediate conviction with a guilty plea. (That can happen from breaking terms of a deal, explaining why it came out now.)
• The newly disclosed crime involved multiple child victims, even toddlers forced into sexual contact with animals.
• Victim ID’s hinted in new court documents don’t match other known victims reported to law enforcement; more may keep coming out.

THINGS GET WORSE FOR TANE: Another ring member in the 2019 headline

California furry fan Tane was involved in Cupid’s activity. Dogpatch Press reported evidence of child porn created by Tane and traded to Cupid (including dates, places, methods, visual and undisclosed evidence.) Investigation led furry convention staff to request coverup, claim “cyber bullying”, and retaliate at the reporter with baseless claims about a “vendetta” by the reporter — even after numerous attempts by the reporter to alert them in the first place.

The retaliation included trying to take down articles, group bans, smear attacks and direct threats. Tane was still welcomed at cons by fellow staff. (Not everywhere; some cut ties in private, and the DEFCON Furs group issued a statement against abuse.) Following Cupid’s new conviction in 2021, some sources that retaliated now claim disassociation with Tane, without explaining inconsistent responses and failure to even listen.

CUPID’S DOWNFALL: The harassment of investigator Naia [July 2021]

Now we can ask WHY wasn’t all of Cupid’s crime charged until now, with his immediate guilty plea?

Plea deals aren’t public, so assumptions can be made about seeking other convictions or watching other offenders. However, I can make connections from background research with exclusive legal docs. This isn’t the only new legal case with Cupid. A second case this July involved a few good investigators like Naia Ōkami.

Naia works cyberops for Operation Wolf Eyes, an anti human-trafficking nonprofit org. She was once featured in a documentary about otherkin, and embraces her brief meme fame; I’d call her self aware and a bad-ass that bad people shouldn’t want to mess with. That awareness wasn’t shared by Cupid in these events:

• Naia was newly located on the ground near Cupid; we were introduced when protest about him caught our attention.
• Naia found posts in furry chats by Cupid that could be reported as an investigator doing her job.
• Cupid went on a legal attack at Naia, claiming to be harassed and fearful enough to file for a protective order.
• If Naia lacked legal representation, even a false attack could damage her; I helped set her up with a powerful defender.
• The defense forced Cupid to face failing and paying Naia’s costs, and he withdraw his claims instead.
• Cupid’s actions led to losing his job. He was immediately charged and convicted for child porn possession, pointing to broken plea deal terms.
• Based on the sequence and his wild response, my best bet is a breach of his deal by getting fired for cause.

Naia’s conclusion:

“Cupid, who cornered animals and children, abusing the most vulnerable members of society, himself acted like a cornered animal when faced with being investigated. Like a cornered animal, he lashed out to bite. Fortunately in doing so, he brought about his own downfall.“

Naia’s feelings about the ordeal:

“When you go against bad people who have dealt extensively with the legal system, especially on the receiving end… They want to retaliate using the same laws and justice system against you. It’s terrifying. I knew I was in the right here, but how much work would I have to miss, and how much time would I have to spend to fight frivolous allegations? It’s scary. The harm to my reputation was scary as things are now on record that were alleged by Cupid that aren’t even remotely true. I’m thankful I had good representation and that the truth is out. It was a long and difficult fight, but it was worth it in the end.”

BACKGROUND: Pacific Northwest furry chaos [November 2017] 

Cupid’s potential sentence of up to 20 years in jail compares to 25 years for fellow ring member Levi “Snakething” Simmons. (See more on Snakething below, or in the 2019 report). Lining them up helps map the ring and go back to the start for a fresh look at their place in the community.

In fall of 2017, I had no idea how deep this rabbithole went when a cluster of controversies had me checking leads. It wasn’t long since furry fandom was roiled by the death of Seattle’s Rainfurrest convention. In its place, a new convention was ready to launch: Anthro Northwest. With it came a shitstorm of online drama. Many furries believed Anthro Northwest was run by an anti-gay Christian con chair, risked suppressing the adult side of the fandom, and was a for-profit scam and bait for bad media from CNN.

Investigation found little to fear. The con chair responded as kindly as Mr. Rogers and did business at a loss. A family-friendly con could lift the shadow of Rainfurrest, but not interfere with existing events. Reporting from the con by CNN’s “This Is Life” made exceptionally good media that served as an apology for past bad media. (Were some people protesting too much about media attention?)

All of this came out while checking another lead related to the con. Underage teens were allegedly approached for sex by Cupid. However, sources were conflicting in the same way as other drama with the con; the truth was hard to tell by contacting sources even including Cupid. (It preceded several unsuccessful attempts to threaten me.) Investigation was filed away, until…

REVELATIONS [2017-now]

Surprise! Just a week after Anthro Northwest in 2017, mainstream news reported arrests of Cupid and another abuser. There was a bestiality-related domestic violence triangle vs. a victim/witness. Now in court, it got no further attention because we’d see how that would shake out. It was too much to follow, and a year later it was nearly forgotten, but tracks were laid…

Surprise again! In September 2018, I was tipped about leaked files of the zoosadist ring tied to ringleader Levi “Snakething” Simmons. Cupid’s crime had kicked off perhaps the biggest and worst scandal ever seen in furry fandom. From investigation up to now, I believe:

• Cupid’s 2017 arrest was caused by Snakething carelessly trading media that exposed them in their furry-zoophile network.
• Exposure got past members holding “blackmail guns” on each other to suppress it (the domestic violence included blackmail).
• Between 2017 and the 2018 leak of the ring, Snakething was probably already surveilled by law enforcement.
• Cupid’s 2019 plea deal might have involved helping to convict Snakething in 2020 (but didn’t tie up all the threads.)
• At first Snakething looked like a ringleader… now he looks like a liability for others to throw under the bus after squeezing him to reach higher targets.
• That implies motivation for the ring leak… but zoophiles “protecting” their places may be just where it starts (who else feared surveillance?)
• Higher targets implies deep history of vile acts and potential money and power connections hinted in the leaks, but they walk free for now.
• Connections for what? To create archives and a “content farm” with technical skill, travel, funding, and access to victims and facilities.
• Many ring members may never face justice, and some like Tane continue staffing furry cons; but they were no more innocent than Cupid.
• I have seen legal action with people not currently publicized (BEWARE of excuses for anyone involved, as Cupid’s news shows!)
• The story sprawls; this will yield new developments for years to come.

From 3 months before Cupid’s plea deal breach and conviction.

PERSPECTIVE ON LEGAL LIABILITY: Why was Cupid still allowed on the scene?

Cupid’s first animal abuse conviction wasn’t taken seriously enough to keep him out of the fandom where he preyed. That included a party in Seattle where organizers brushed off complaints that led to his downfall.

That’s not always just a simple failure. (I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice)… Paradoxically, the more serious a problem is, the less power organizers may have. That’s why furries are great at kicking out nazis, but not always criminals — Apples and Oranges! It’s not against the law to be a nazi. But if you allege or treat someone as criminal by taking action…

1. You may hand them a weapon to beat you with by legal retaliation.
2. You might not be able to afford your defense (can you pay 5-6 figures?) or it ruins your event or personal welfare, EVEN IF YOU’RE RIGHT.
3. Acting on one individual like Cupid doesn’t just make liability in one case; that can invoke “Duty of Care” for many cases, an all-or-nothing situation where you’re liable for problems you CAN’T FORSEE, with potential lawsuits from many directions (including lawsuits from people you want to help).
4. Act once about one case? Now maybe you need psychic power for future safety from liability with hundreds or thousands of people, any one of which may be a Cupid and you don’t know it. (Or costly security service not used by one-weekend, volunteer-run furry cons.)

IT’S A BIND:

• Reread #3: Taking action in one case like Cupid’s may not lower liability, it can counterintuitively raise it for countless cases.
• Consider the attack Naia faced and the cost of defense. Even a Good Samaritan may be sued for helping, like “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.”
• Can cons deny service to anyone for any reason? That doesn’t stop Duty of Care; and acting in con space can make liability outside it. (Cons don’t own hotels or control private rooms.) This is why seemingly-self-protective screening is not the norm.
• Aren’t cons protected by incorporation? Maybe, but have you started one and seen the work crumble for reasons you couldn’t possibly forsee?
• Aren’t some cons helping anyways? Maybe with extra worries that could backfire.
• If you still don’t understand, ask a lawyer. Events may be acting in good faith even when they must give minimal response about predators.

It explains why organizers say “go to police”. Events that do nothing are leaving adults as responsible as anywhere else, where creeps shop for groceries or ride the same buses we do. Think of it like a bus where you tell the driver, “Bad Person got on, please kick him off, he’s riding somewhere to do crimes.” If the rider is just riding but doing nothing else, how can the driver act based on claims or even a conviction? How can the driver take liability to be sued for picking up any bad rider? What if one driver gets thrown under the bus while you want many to take your side? Think of a con like a bus where the driver can’t easily refuse to let someone ride for behavior off the bus.

Disorganized yelling at single people or events can hurt, not help. It’s bigger than “bad person goes to event” and expecting 1-weekend cons to police the fandom. Friends and groups can make the whole fandom safer before ending up at cons. Think of coordinating many actions to shift a whole culture.

DOUBLE TAKE: How events fail their members by conflict of interest

Liability concern gets less credible and more like an excuse when events have offenders on staff, getting special status or doing business together, or they preemptively discourage or retaliate at reports. Ever hear about con staff going to zoophile parties?

It’s become clear that conflicts of interest exist in some of the deepest roots of the fandom. In the past I’d believed it lacked “Catholic Church” type scandals by being decentralized. Although there isn’t the same type of power, it comes from compartmentalizing. If organizers act like it’s not their job to stop people like Cupid while keeping spaces to play with them, or they welcome ones like Tane on staff, something is deeply broken. And someone doesn’t want this reported.

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