WASHINGTON, DC – Neo-Nazi members were arrested for grooming minors and coercing them to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and images of self-harm, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice this past week.
Colin John Thomas Walker, Clint Jordan Lopaka, Nahooikaika Borge, Rohan Sandeep Rane and Kaleb Christopher Merritt were indicted by a federal grand jury on related child pornography charges.
The DOJ reported Rane, Walker, Merritt, and Borge were members of CVLT, pronounced “cult,” where they adopted neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia.
Members of the online group CVLT participated in sexual exploitation offenses and trafficked CSAM where Rane, Walker, and Merritt acted as administrators, added the DOJ.
According to the DOJ, there were 16 victims globally who were forced to engage in dehumanizing practices, “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.”
In the most extreme cases, said the DOJ, CVLT members pressured victims to try to take their own lives on video livestreams.
The DOJ explained if victims were to resist requests they would be threatened by CVLT members, who claimed they would distribute compromising photos and videos to the victim’s family and friends.
The DOJ said Rane has been in French custody since 2022 when he was charged in France with child exploitation and related offenses, and Merritt is currently serving a 50-year sentence for child sex abuse crimes committed in 2020 and 2021 in Virginia.
The DOJ said the minimum penalty for the four accused would be 20 years in prison and a statutory maximum penalty of life in prison if they are convicted.
