Man Pleads Guilty to Participating in Online Neo-Nazi Group that Exploited Children into Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material

A Texas man and convicted rapist pleaded guilty to leading a child exploitation enterprise connected to an internet-based extremist group that entices and targets children into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and images of self-harm. Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 26, also known as “eTerror,” of Spring, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. Merritt is in federal custody in Los Angeles but also is serving a 33-year prison sentence in Virginia.

“This guilty plea exposes the depravity of CVLT, a criminal enterprise that systematically targeted vulnerable children, coerced them into producing abuse material, and threatened to destroy their lives if they resisted,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Merritt was one of the online administrators who made CVLT’s monstruous machinery of child exploitation run. NSD thanks our law enforcement partners here and around the world whose work enabled the Department to bring these charges.”

“Going after dangerous pedophiles is one of the top priorities of our office,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “This sick, perverted criminal led an effort to prey on vulnerable children through the internet. The only way to keep the public safe is to lock him up in prison for as long as possible, and that’s exactly what we will fight for at sentencing.”

Read more: Department of Justice