DOJ busts ‘Greggy’s Cult’ child exploitation network that allegedly coerced kids into self-harm

The Department of Justice DOJ on Friday charged five men from across the U S with running an online child exploitation enterprise called Greggy s Cult that allegedly used Discord servers to terrorize blackmail and coerce minors into horrific acts of self-harm The indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors charges five individuals with conspiracy to produce child pornography conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats Hector Bermudez of Queens New York Zachary Dosch of Albuquerque New Mexico Rumaldo Valdez of Honolulu Hawaii David Brilhante of San Diego California and Camden Rodriguez of Longmont Colorado were arrested Tuesday will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date according to the DOJ Prosecutors described a nightmarish platform on the internet alleging that Greggy s Cult carried out depraved conduct that included repeatedly encouraging casualties to kill themselves or encouraging them to insert household objects into their genitals or anus HOUSE OF PRAYER CHURCH LEADERS INDICTED FOR ALLEGED M FRAUD SCHEME TARGETING MILITARY VETS These five defendants allegedly targeted vulnerable children and others via online platforms they exploited threatened and harassed them and encouraged horrific acts of self-harm FBI director Kash Patel revealed in a report The FBI is sending a message to those individuals involved in criminal activity through violent online networks you can t hide in the shadows hovering over a keyboard we will find and hold accountable those who participate in these illegal and heinous acts The indictment stated that the defendants allegedly engaged in the production and distribution of child sex abuse material between January and January and also participated in other forms of exploitation and harassment of both minors and adults According to prosecutors the defendants and other members of Greggy s Cult met on Discord servers and directed minor casualties who had joined a video call on either Discord or another video conferencing platform to engage in sexually explicit or other degrading conduct FBI TARGETS DANGEROUS ONLINE ' ' GRID INCLUDING ALLEGED AFFILIATE PREYING ON -YEAR-OLDS TEENSThe group is also accused of finding casualties on gaming platforms such as Roblox and Counter-Strike Global Offensive The cult members allegedly captured screenshots and screen recordings of the sexually explicit conduct before sharing it to other Discord servers and with each other according to the DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to the indictment stating that no child should ever be terrorized or exploited online and no online platform should give refuge to predators SEXTORTION SCAMS AGAINST TEEN BOYS SKYROCKET AFTER COVID WATCHDOG SAYS The Department of Justice will continue to protect children help survivors and hold accountable anyone who preys on the vulnerable online or offline with every tool we have Bondi added Prosecutors also accused the defendants of extorting their targets alleging that they tried to frame the adult casualties as pedophiles or send malware to minor casualties which was then used as leverage to get the casualties to engage in degrading acts on camera The defendants were allegedly able to convince casualties to commit acts of degradation including having them be owned by a member of the cult to demonstrate loyalty or writing the names of cult members on their bodies which prosecutors referred to as fansigning SUSPECTED SUBURBAN JIHADISTS SHARED ISIS-STYLE SELFIES AND JOKED ABOUT FBI READING GROUP CHAT FEDSActing Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the DOJ's Criminal Division explained in a report that the defendants were charged with an unspeakable act of coercing and blackmailing children and adults to engage in self-harm and other degrading acts U S Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr for the Eastern District of New York called the alleged conduct monstrous adding that children were at times driven to the brink of suicide The DOJ stated that Greggy s Cult formed before the emergence of the system another online child-exploitation group that the FBI has launched an intensified effort to take down Members of allegedly use popular online platforms such as Discord Telegram and Roblox to recruit and manipulate minors