2 SoCal minors among several victims of neo-Nazi exploitation group, 4 members arrested

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Friday, January 31, 2025
4 neo-Nazi group members arrested in child sex abuse scheme
Four men have been arrested in connection with a neo-Nazi child exploitation enterprise that groomed and coerced at least 16 minors around the world to produce child sexual abuse material, including two from Southern California.

Four members of a neo-Nazi group have been arrested and charged with grooming and extorting more than a dozen children to produce pornographic material and images of self-harm, authorities announced Thursday.

Sixteen children from around the world, including two minors in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, were victims of the neo-Nazi group, according to the grand jury indictment.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office and the Los Angeles Police Department are among the agencies investigating the matter.

"Sextortion and other forms of online child sexual abuse have tragically altered the trajectory of too many young lives and this group preyed upon the vulnerable to fulfill their sick and twisted desires," said Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles Special Agent Eddy Wang.

The four men are accused of engaging in the online child sexual exploitation group that promoted neo-Nazism, pedophilia and nihilism, which is the belief that life is meaningless.

Collin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa, Hawaii, were arrested Thursday morning and were charged with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise.

Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of Antibes, France, and Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Spring, Texas were already in custody and are also charged in the 19 page indictment with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise.

According to the indictment, the group trafficked child pornography and made the children engage in dehumanizing acts, including 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.

CVLT members' coercion escalated to pressuring victims to kill themselves on a video livestream. If the victims hesitated or threatened to tell their parents or authorities, the group threatened to distribute their already-obtained compromising images to their friends and family.

They groomed children to produce the pornographic material through various ways of degradation, including exposing them to extremist and violent content.

Rane was previously charged with several exploitation and related offenses in France and has been in French custody since 2022.
Merritt is currently in Virginia state custody, serving a 50-year sentence for child sex abuse crimes committed in 2020 and 2021.

"The defendants here are alleged to have committed horrific acts against children," said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. "There is nothing more important than protecting our youth. Our office will continue its effort to aggressively prosecute and incarcerate dangerous predators."

If convicted, the defendants could face a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison.

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