Bangladeshi University Professor Arrested in Florida Over Alleged Animal-Sexual-Activity Videos

A Bangladeshi academic named Raiyan Abdul Baten has been arrested in Florida, United States, over allegations involving the filming, distribution or possession of images or videos depicting sexual activity with an animal.

According to publicly available arrest records, Baten was arrested in Hillsborough County on October 28, 2026. The arrest listing identifies four counts under the charge of filming, distributing or possessing images or videos of sexual activity with an animal.

Baten is listed as an assistant professor on the University of South Florida's official faculty directory. The university profile identifies his research interests as network science, human-computer interaction, machine learning and deep learning, computational social science, natural language processing and related fields. 

The information about the arrest has also appeared on online public-records and mugshot websites. However, detailed information about the investigation, the full allegations and the latest status of any court proceedings has not been independently established in the available sources.

The allegations have not been proven in court. Baten is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.