Alleged member of 'online terror group' arrested on child porn charges
Dec. 14 (UPI) -- An Arizona man has been arrested after allegedly producing child pornography to aid the mission of "online terror groups" bent on causing the collapse of the U.S. government.
Baron Martin, 20, of Tucson, is accused of producing sexual materials containing children and cyberstalking while a member of a terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Martin was arrested on Wednesday. The case is before the U.S. District Court of Arizona.
Prosecutors said he committed the alleged crimes to further the aims of "online violent terror networks" known as "764" and "CVLT."
"764 remains a dangerous network of violent extremists who systematically target children and weaponize child sexual abuse material for the purpose of furthering an accelerationist agenda, destroying civilized society and causing the collapse of the U.S. government," Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said.
Olsen said the DOJ is committed to "stopping 764's acts of terrorism and disrupting the 764 network."
The DOJ said 764 is a "network of violent extremists" who use online and social media platforms to commit criminal acts in the United States and abroad by targeting vulnerable underage youth and "sharing extreme gore media and child sexual abuse material."
"Members of 764 seek to desensitize young people to violence and break down societal norms regarding violence," U.S. officials said. "They normalize the possession, production and sharing of explicit [child sex abuse] and gore material to corrupt and groom their victims toward future violence."
The networks' members allegedly target underage females to groom, extort and force them to mutilate themselves or others while filming or photographing the activities or streaming them online.
Network members often edit the streamed material to create compilations to share with other network members and spread fear among victims with the goal of accelerating chaos and disrupting society, according to the DOJ.
Martin allegedly used the online name "Convict" while participating in network chatrooms and many times claimed to own the 764 network and another called CVLT.
Prosecutors said he described himself as the "king of extortion" and claimed to be the "catalyst for thousands of extortions."
Martin also allegedly produced and shared a detailed guide on how to identify, groom and extort vulnerable juveniles.
The DOJ's complaint against Martin accuses him of using the Discord app in September 2022 to make two minors engage in self-mutilation.
He also is accused of forcing a 13-year-old girl to cut his name in "every possible place" on her body, including her chest, stomach and thighs.
Martin allegedly threatened to leak photos of her if she did not do as he demanded, and on other occasions directed her to cut swastikas, satanic symbols and other designs on her body.
Martin faces up to 30 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse materials and another 10 years for cyberstalking, plus fines totaling up to $500,000.
