13-Year-Old From ‘Online Cult’ Arrested With Terrorism Manuals, Child Porn: Police

Florida police arrested a 13-year-old on Friday who is charged with possessing child pornography and beastiality material after he joined an “online cult” that allegedly targets minors for abuse, according to a local sheriff.

The unnamed suspect was charged with four felonies weeks after police received a tip about a group on Discord, a popular gaming platform, encouraging a young girl to harm herself during a “live cut show,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said in a Monday press conference. The suspect’s group adheres to “Satanic and neo-Nazi ideology” that has been linked to similar cases in the U.S., and law enforcement found instructions on mass murder in the suspect’s possession, Nocco said.

“This is a warning to parents, to children, to let them know about the dangers that are out there,” Nocco said, adding that online extortion networks like the one allegedly involving the suspect are a global problem. These Satanic groups tend to gather on platforms popular with young people, build trust with minor victims, ask them for explicit photos or videos and use the material as blackmail to extort them into degrading acts, such as carving the names of their abusers into their skin, Nocco said.

“It’s an online cult,” Nocco told reporters. “They place no value on human life. They use Satanic and neo-Nazi ideology. They idolize school shooters.”

Police became aware of the suspect’s alleged crimes when he was 12 years old, Nocco said. The now-teenager allegedly admitted to police that he had encouraged two other minors to cut themselves. Investigators also allegedly found him with documentation containing “instructions for committing mass murder, other violent attacks, building bombs and then concealing evidence,” according to the sheriff.