Two men, including one from Puna, were arrested Thursday for alleging participating in a neo-Nazi child exploitation enterprise that groomed and then coerced minors to produce sexual abuse material and images of self-harm.
The group is accused of victimizing at least 16 minors around the world, including two in Southern California.
Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa and Collin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, N.J., were arrested Thursday morning on a federal grand jury indictment that charges them with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise.
They were expected to make initial court appearances Thursday in Honolulu and New Jersey, respectively.
The indictment also charges two other defendants who already are in custody: Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of Antibes, France, and Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Spring, Texas.
The indictment, returned by a grand jury on Jan. 17 and unsealed Thursday, also charges Rane and Walker with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise.
“The defendants here are alleged to have committed horrific acts against children,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “There is nothing more important than protecting our youth. Our office will continue its effort to aggressively prosecute and incarcerate dangerous predators.”
“Sextortion and other forms of online child sexual abuse have tragically altered the trajectory of too many young lives, and this group preyed upon the vulnerable to fulfill their sick and twisted desires,” said Homeland Security Investigations-Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang. “HSI and our partners will work tirelessly to protect children from victimization in communities across the United States and around the globe.”
According to the indictment, from at least 2019 to 2022, Rane, Walker, Merritt and Borge were members of CVLT (pronounced “cult”), an online group that espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles.
Members of the international enterprise engaged in online child sexual exploitation offenses and trafficked child sexual abuse material. Rane, Walker and Merritt allegedly acted as leaders and administrators in the CVLT enterprise, hosting and running CVLT online servers and controlling membership for the group.
CVLT members worked collectively to entice and coerce children to self-produce child sexual abuse material on a platform run by CVLT members including exposing the victims to extremist and violent content, according to the feds. It’s alleged that CVLT specifically targeted vulnerable victims, including those suffering from mental health challenges or a history of sexual abuse.
Victims were allegedly encouraged to engage in increasingly dehumanizing acts, including cutting and eating their own hair, drinking their urine, punching themselves, calling themselves racial slurs, and using razor blades to carve CVLT members’ names into their skin. CVLT members’ coercion escalated to pressuring victims to kill themselves on a video livestream.
When victims hesitated, resisted or threatened to tell parents or authorities, CVLT members would threaten to distribute already obtained compromising photos and videos of the victims to their family and friends, according to authorities. For victims who stopped participating in the abuse, CVLT would sometimes carry through on their threats.
Rane previously was charged with several child exploitation and related offenses in France and has been in French custody since 2022. Merritt is currently in Virginia state custody, serving a 50-year sentence for child sex abuse crimes committed in 2020 and 2021.
If convicted, the defendants would face a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison.
