Local, state and federal police have been sounding the alarm about online predators for several years. But more recently, authorities have been combating an online presence of predators who want to do more than sexually exploit children.
These predators have no empathy.
They are seeking to groom young children, many of whom are already struggling with issues such as depression and social anxiety, and bully, threaten or even harm them. Their criminal conduct is fueled by a hatred of society “and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction and social instability,” according to the FBI.
In Utah, there have been several cases recently investigated by police of vulnerable teens being threatened, manipulated, and, in at least one case, physically harmed by people the teens have never met.
“It’s scary, is what it is,” Mapleton Police Lt. Phil Bringhurst told KSL. “There’s been some really awful things that come out of these groups.”
Nihilistic violent extremists
One group of particular concern is called “764.” Last week, the FBI field office in Boston issued an open letter warning parents, guardians and caregivers.
“The FBI is extremely concerned about a sharp increase in the activity of 764 and other violent online networks targeting and exploiting children and other vulnerable individuals across the United States and here in New England. While these networks are often referred to as 764, there are many other offshoot networks and names,” the message states.
Groups like 764 are considered nihilistic violent extremists, according to the FBI.
“Members of these networks connect with children and other at-risk individuals online through mobile messaging apps, social media and gaming platforms, then manipulate or coerce them into producing and sharing graphic content, child sexual abuse material, or engaging in acts of animal cruelty, self-harm, or violence. Some of these predators even watch live-streamed self-harm and other violent content and circulate it to continue to extort their victims and exert control. It’s a tactic known as sadistic online exploitation.”
Similar warnings have been issued by the FBI field office in Chicago.
Andy Liu, assistant special agent-in-charge at the FBI’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office based in Salt Lake City, says the FBI is currently investigating more than 450 people who are tied to violent online networks nationwide.
The 764 group was founded in Stephenville, Texas, in 2021 by a 15-year-old school dropout, Bradley Chance Cadenhead, Liu said. The name comes from Stephenville’s zip code, 76401. According to Liu, Cadenhead found a community online — mainly through games such as Minecraft — “where he could share his ideology with like-minded folks.”
Those ideologies included “an absolute hatred for society and they would love to witness the downfall of society. And they are also sadists. They enjoy witnessing inflicting pain on others, or just like witnessing or participating in the inflicting of pain and suffering of others,” Liu said.
While one of the key motivators for groups like 764 remains the collection and distribution of child sex abuse material and extortion of children, members are also believed to be responsible for grooming children, mainly ages 10-17, into committing acts of self-harm or harming others.
According to Liu, who oversees national security branch operations in Salt Lake City, 764 “has been vastly disrupted” since Cadenhead and other leaders of the 764 were arrested and later convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. But there are other groups that remain dangerous, such as No Lives Matter and those who identify as “incels.”
Local predators
Liu declined to talk about any Utah cases the FBI may be investigating or if they have ties to groups like 764. Local law enforcement agencies were also hesitant to talk to KSL about their cases because of the sensitivities involved due to the victims, and in some cases, the arrested person, being teenagers.
But according to several court documents, there have been recent cases involving Utah teens being bullied or threatened online, and in at least one case, physically harmed.
In Utah County, a 14-year-old girl was contacted in November by an unknown person who wanted to “make a deal.” The unknown person told the teen to pay him $30, “and in return he would not harass or threaten her friends,” according to court documents.
“The victim states that she wants her friends to be left alone and states she is willing to do other things other than pay money,” according to a search warrant affidavit. “During the conversation, the victim tells the unknown individual that she would be willing to do anything, but no killing and no sex.”
Eventually, the unknown person “convinces the victim to bring a knife to school so that she can be marked with the knife showing she belongs to him. ... The victim agrees to this deal,” court documents state.
The girl was told to meet with a 14-year-old boy at her school. When they met, the teen was cut with the knife she brought and the boy then sexually assaulted her.
Using surveillance video from the school and other evidence, police determined that the teen the girl met with was also the one sending her the messages. In December, he was charged in 4th District Juvenile Court with aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault.
In another Utah County case last fall, a 17-year-old girl began “receiving text messages from an unknown individual threatening to kill her and sending graphic images,” according to court documents. After blocking the unknown person on WhatsApp, she received text messages threatening to harm her if she didn’t unblock the person.
“You will lose your life slowly and painfully if you don’t fully (follow) my instructions,” one text said, while another said, “I don’t wanna make your pretty face be peeled off.”
The status of that case was unknown as of Friday.
In another case in Salt Lake County in November, a 14-year-old girl was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with making threats against a school and misdemeanor drug possession.
In that case, the girl sent messages via Instagram stating, “Tomorrow is the day of retribution, you all will suffer. I will bring a gun to school and shoot 10 people,” according to charging documents.
“The messages also stated she was going to ‘kirk’ others. This was a reference to the Charlie Kirk homicide that occurred at the Utah Valley University,” court documents state.
The girl also sent a photo that depicted her body with the face of Elliot Rodger, who shot and killed six people and injured 14 others in 2014 near the campus of UC Santa Barbara. The murders have been cited as an early influence on the “incel” culture. Before committing the mass shooting, Rodger uploaded a video entitled “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution” to YouTube. In the video, Rodger claimed he would “punish” women for rejecting him.
When questioned by police, the Utah girl claimed “that she (was) interested in a group she described as sympathizing with suicides and shooters. (She) confirmed she creates and consumes content related to Elliot Rodger, acknowledging that he killed people because of extreme jealousy. (She) shared the ‘Day of Retribution’ statement was a direct quote from Rodger,” but claimed it was just a joke, the charges state.
The girl also told investigators that she met a male named “Benny” through Instagram who “expressed wishes for (her) to make memes and communicate about mass killings,” according to court documents.
She said she has never met Benny in person, “only communicating through Instagram, phone and Discord.”
Red flags for parents
Bringhurst says having the Discord app should be a big red flag for parents.
“My advice is if your kid has a platform like Discord, make them get rid of it and look and see what they’ve been doing because you might find something you don’t want them to be involved in,” he said.
Both Bringhurst and Liu say online predators commonly meet their victims through interactive online gaming in games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Once a predator meets a person through online gaming, they are able to pick out the at-risk children and gain their trust through a long grooming process.
“This trust is built slowly over time and through constant communication and gaining successes within the game at the same time,” Liu said.
The child victim starts to accept the predator’s edict and speech as part of normal behavior, he said.
“They prey on the ones suffering from depression,” Bringhurst said. The predators then figure out a victim’s needs, “and then they push them to where they take them to these other places where they go and dive deeper into whatever they’re trying to push, whatever agenda they have. ... To me it seems like they push them just to see how far they will go.”
Liu says just because a child is sitting in a room playing games and not running around away from the house, parents shouldn’t assume their child is safe.
“Mom and dad always want to know who you’re hanging out with. But as internet gaming continues to grow, we don’t see the (other) kid online. This kid might not be in our neighborhood. So we are remiss at the fact we don’t ask, ‘Who are you talking to? What are you talking about?’” he said. “Be curious about your children’s activity. And that’s really important. And be mindful of what kinds of apps are installed on their phone or their computer.
“Or just periodically look at what they’re doing. Or after gaming, just ask, ‘What did you guys talk about?’ Be curious about your children’s lives.”
Bringhurst added, “I think parents need to be very aware of what their kids are doing online. We all know it can start on a simply game like Roblox, which I think parents believe is a very simple child game. And they start talking there, and they try to convince these kids to move to another platform like Discord, where it’s uncontrolled and they can say whatever they want there. It’s basically untraceable.”
He said children are smart and are able to hide their activities. But if parents are vigilant and keep an eye on their child’s activities and then talk to their son or daughter, they might be able to prevent them from becoming a victim of an online predator.
“Children have the capacity for logic and reason and you just have to have that conversation with them,” Liu said, such as reminding children that “a good friend would never ask you to do x-y-z. A good friend would never ask you to take a picture of yourself.”
Last week, Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit against Roblox, claiming the online gaming platform fails to adequately protect children from online predators. In a statement to KABC, Roblox disputed the claims, stating, “We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online,” and additional safety measures were added in January.