TUCSON, AZ (AZFamily) — A man from Southern Arizona is facing federal charges after being accused of producing child pornography and cyberstalking underage girls through extremist online networks known as “764” and “CVLT.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 20-year-old Baron Martin of Tucson was arrested this week for multiple offenses. Federal officials report that the networks “764” and “CVLT” systematically disseminate child pornography while targeting minors in efforts to desensitize them and normalize exposure to violent and sexually exploitative material, with the goal of grooming victims for future violence.
Authorities allege that Martin coerced two teenagers, aged 13 and 16, to engage in self-harm and cyberstalked another child, threatening harm to her grandmother.
Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, stated, “764 remains a dangerous network of violent extremists who systematically target children and weaponize child sexual abuse material to advance an accelerationist agenda, undermine civilized society, and destabilize the U.S. Government. The Department of Justice is fully committed to halting 764’s acts of terrorism and disrupting its operations.”
Reporting from the Washington Post and the Global Network on Extremism and Technology indicates that the group was founded by a Texas teenager with an interest in “online content depicting murder and torture.” Recruitment often occurs through online gaming platforms or Discord, a messaging service popular with gamers.
Last month, an individual connected to the 764 network was sentenced to 30 years for sexually exploiting a child. Arizona’s Family has recently highlighted numerous sextortion cases in the Valley and nationwide.
Amanda Schneider, a mother from Tempe, remarked on the intelligence of these predators: “They know how to identify insecurities and exploit them.” She expressed her anger and heartbreak over Martin’s arrest, which brought back painful memories of her own son being targeted for sextortion.
Schneider’s son was approached in 2021 by a fellow gamer claiming to be 16 years old on Discord. “The way this person was talking to our son was not how a 16-year-old would speak,” she noted, revealing a slow grooming process that could have escalated.
The alleged predator turned out to be a 35-year-old convicted pedophile from the UK, who had been soliciting sexual acts from Schneider’s son. Fortunately, they intervened before the situation worsened, but the trauma remains.
“To this day, my son has yet to discuss it,” Schneider shared. “There’s been a lot of shame and reluctance to address it.”
She urges parents to remain vigilant and check in with their children. “I felt intuitively there was something wrong, and I’m so grateful that I listened,” she said.
