Two ‘CVLT’ Members Arrested in the U.S. for Violent Crimes Against Children

• Two members involved in extreme child abuse have been arrested in the U.S. by an international law enforcement team.
• The child abuse community is called CVLT and is part of a larger network called ‘The Com’.
• Culprits coerced minors and youth into performing sexual acts and forced them into self-harm among other crimes.

The United States Homeland Security in collaboration with an international team including the Europol and the French Police arrested two members suspected to be a part of child abuse community. 

The arrests were made in the United States. Two others who worked with them are already in custody. Of the four members, two were charged for conducting neo-Nazi child exploitation.

The arrested members of the ‘CVLT’ group pronounced ‘cult’ are as follows:

1. Colin John Thomas Walker, 23 from New Jersey
2. Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41 from Hawaii
3. Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28 from France
4. Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24 from Texas.

The online group has been involved in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). 

The indictment reports from 2019 to 2022 said that the suspects were involved in nihilism and pedophilia as their core principles. Rane, Walker, and Merritt worked as leaders and administrators of CVLT.

They also hosted the CVLT online servers and entertained other members.  

“CVLT members worked collectively to entice and coerce children to self-produce CSAM on a platform run by CVLT members where they groomed children for the eventual production of CSAM through various means of degradation, including exposing the victims to extremist and violent content”, a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice shared.

“CVLT specifically targeted vulnerable victims, including ones suffering from mental health challenges or a history of sexual abuse,” the press release further added. 

Based on the current investigation, it was found that 16 minors were from around the world and two from South Carolina.

The following crimes against children and adults have been conducted by the group: 

1. Sexual abuse of children.
2. Manipulating minors into committing violent crimes such as:

• Acts of cruelty against people, animals.
• Self-harm.
• Murder.

Children were compelled to perform dehumanizing acts like cutting and eating their hair, drinking urine, punching themselves, verbally abusing each other, and carving the letter CVLT on themselves with razor blades.

The members livestreamed minors taking their lives by threatening them of sharing compromising online media of them with their friends and family.

In a press release, Europol stated that several extremist members are part of communities that are part of a larger online network called “The Com”. 

“The Com is a virtual community of groups and individuals who conduct illicit activities that glorify serious violence, cruelty, and gore,” Europol stated. Some members victimised children by befriending them while others had romantic relationships.

Extremists join easily accessible online spaces on social media, mobile apps, gaming platforms to plan children abuse in the form of sexual abuse, cruelty, torture, and even murder.