PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Pasco Sheriff's Office (PSO) provided details on an investigation involving a 13-year-old boy who was charged with possession of child pornography and another illegal sex-related crime.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said about a month ago, they received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about a Discord group. Several people in the group were encouraging a young girl to cut herself in an alleged "live cut show."
PSO said they traced the IP address back to a 12-year-old in Pasco County who is now 13 years old.
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From the investigation, PSO said they found the 13-year-old with video of child pornography that included an infant and another sex-related crime video.
The 13-year-old was also in possession of documentation for committing mass murder, other violent attacks, building bombs, and then concealing evidence. The 13-year-old said he had encouraged two other minors to cut themselves, Sheriff Nocco said.
The sheriff added this is a "global issue."
"This is an online cult. There's no doubt about it. It's an online cult. They place no value on human life. They use Satanic and neo-Nazi ideology," Sheriff Nocco said. "They idolize school shooters."
He further said the "cult" encourages minors to harm themselves while recording the action.
Sheriff Nocco said extortion plays a major part in these cults/groups.
The Sheriff said groups are using online games such as Roblox and Minecraft, which have an online chat to gain rapport with a person. They bring them to a site like Discord and have them do things on camera, like cutting themselves, then use the video as extortion.
Extortion through a sexual means is one of the ways the groups entrap people, by threatening to reveal the coerced recorded videos to family members, friends...the public.
The 13-year-old faces multiple charges, including four felony counts of child pornography and one felony count of another sex-related crime.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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