Members of an online group known as “Greggy’s Cult” traded child pornography and sexually exploited children after meeting them on internet gaming platforms, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Tuesday.
The group targeted minors from 2020 to 2021 in a number of servers on Discord, an online communication platform popular with video gamers, according to the indictment against them. The five accused men, including a 29-year-old from Queens, found their victims on Discord servers and other gaming platforms, including “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” according to the charges filed Tuesday.
They are each charged with participating in a child exploitation enterprise, according to the indictment. The group formed prior to the founding of another, similar extortion network known as 764. Prominent members of 764 were also first members of Greggy’s Cult, according to prosecutors.
As part of the crime, members of Greggy’s Cult directed children to do sexual things in video group chats on Discord and other platforms, according to the indictment. They then captured screenshots of the acts and shared it among themselves, according to the indictment. The youngest victim was 11 years old, according to federal prosecutors.
In addition to the sexual exploitation, they directed some of their victims to write the names of group members on their bodies and told them to profess to being “owned” by a member of the cult, according to the court documents filed by prosecutors.
In one instance, members of the group encouraged a victim to kill themselves by overdosing on medication or by hanging themself from a ceiling fan, the documents state.
“The defendants’ conduct, as alleged, is monstrous and will be vigorously prosecuted,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “I strongly urge parents and caregivers to speak to their children about the dangers of communicating with strangers on social media and how to seek help from adults and law enforcement in these situations.”
The defendants are residents of states across the country, including 29-year-old Hector Bermudez from Queens. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday evening, and attorney information for him was not immediately available.
