A 20-year-old Tucson man was arrested earlier this month for producing child sexual abuse material and cyberstalking for several terror networks online.
In a lengthy press release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the charges against the Tucson resident, Baron Martin.
Martin allegedly participated in child sextortion sites, called “online violent terror networks” by the FBI, known as 764 and CVLT. On these networks under the moniker “Convict,” Martin would claim to own these networks. The DOJ clarified that the online terror networks remain active, even with Martin’s arrest.
“764 remains a dangerous network of violent extremists who systematically target children and weaponize child sexual abuse material for the purpose of furthering an accelerationist agenda, destroying civilized society, and causing the collapse of the U.S. Government,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. “The Department of Justice is fully committed to stopping 764’s acts of terrorism and disrupting the 764 network.”
764 networks criminals who target vulnerable minors to produce and share extreme gore media and child sexual abuse material. Per the DOJ, 764 members seek to desensitize minors with violence and sexual abuse materials with the aim of grooming them into committing future violence.
764 members usually target female minors and have them photograph or video the mutilation of themselves or others.
The public learned of 764 about a week prior to Martin’s arrest. Cyberscoop published a report after receiving exclusive access to details of the ongoing federal investigation into 764.
764 carries loose associations with a global cybercrime collective, “The Com.” These networks engage in the targeting, grooming, extorting, and harming of children with the goal of corrupting them into effective, violent criminals capable of destroying society upon entering adulthood.
Among Martin’s alleged crimes committed online: forcing minors to self-mutilate for him, and harassing and threatening a minor with the assassination of their loved one.
In the former alleged crimes, Martin had victims cut designs into their bodies, like swastikas and satanic symbols. He threatened to leak pictures of his victims if they didn’t comply. In that latter alleged crime, Martin agreed to pay someone $3,000 to kidnap and murder a victim’s loved one.
Similar to the practices of those operating within The Com, Martin is also alleged to have created and posted a detailed guide for identifying, grooming, and extorting children. Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, described Martin’s crimes as “simply horrific.”
“The details in this case are simply horrific as the defendant allegedly coerced children to harm themselves multiple times,” said Wells. “The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and we take that especially seriously when it comes to the young and vulnerable. The FBI will use all of our authorities to investigate and hold accountable anyone who preys on children.”
Martin may face up to 30 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse material and up to 10 years in prison for cyberstalking.
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Federal bureaucrats don’t get a lot of love, but there is at least one — or perhaps a small group — at the FBI who deserve your thanks. Why? Did you see the story about the FBI revising its crime data?
The FBI’s original release of 2022 crime statistics showed a 2.1% decline in violent crime when compared to 2021. This figure never seemed right and was widely questioned, but FBI data is presumed authoritative. Former President Donald Trump often insists crime is rising and the legacy media delighted in throwing the FBI figures back at him.
Whoops. The FBI very quietly released a correction. Crime didn’t fall 2.1%. Violent crime actually rose 4.5%. That’s right, crime rose, just as Trump said. Further, the combined correction of nearly 7%, reversing a 2.1% decline to a 4.5% increase is too large just to be passed off as simple error. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV).”
Quite properly, most of the attention given to this bombshell is directed at the rise in crime, the validation of Trump’s claims and the perfidy of the FBI.
Consider that last item. The FBI is vital to national security, yet its leadership down through a few layers of the org chart have been revealed repeatedly as bad. They see what’s going on around the country. They see the crime, yet they allowed that obviously flawed report to go out knowing it would benefit whoever became the Democratic nominee.
If Trump wins, then it is time for the trash to meet the broom.
But there’s another aspect of this story. The corrected figures showing a rise in crime came out just a few weeks before the election, hitting the Harris campaign with yet another mighty gut punch. The FBI could have waited until after the election. Heck, they could have waited until next year.
How did this happen? How did the new truth get past FBI leadership?
Somewhere some likely lifer FBI bureaucrat must have learned the truth. Knowing it would surely destroy their career this person may have told their superiors that if the report weren’t revised and released, if the truth didn’t come out through official channels, then they would go to the press with the correct data and the coverup.
Our hero was likely called to multiple meetings by ever-higher-ups to persuade, dissuade and threaten him or her into getting in line. They would have heard variations of “This isn’t how we do things at the FBI” and “This will destroy your career,” and “By the way, how do your kids like Springfield Elementary?”
Plenty of federal bureaucrats are lazy and useless. Sometimes they are in positions where there is just nothing to do and sometimes they are malicious.
It is a big government. There are bad apples in every barrel. As my former boss used to say: “Bureaucrats are like cockroaches. The trouble is not what they eat, but what they get into.”
But there are also plenty of fine professionals just trying to do a good job often in impossible conditions. They can be found in every department, agency and bureau. I’ve even met them at the Internal Revenue Service, good people struggling to make an incredibly bad system work.
One of those fine professionals is apparently at the FBI. A dedicated stalwart who wouldn’t be bullied, wouldn’t remain silent, who forced the FBI to release the corrected crime statistics before the election. We will likely never know who this person is.
But tonight, when hefting a pint or saying your prayers, speak a few words of thanks that we have such people.
J.D. Foster is a contributor to the Daily Caller News Foundation. He is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
President Joe Biden’s time in the White House is mercifully coming to an end. He is now officially a lame duck with six months to go.
Biden was a victim here of a corrupt Democratic machine that — along with a complicit media — thought they could pull off a grand election-year deceit, despite his failing cognitive abilities. The Democratic establishment and a compliant media convinced millions of primary voters that Biden was of sound mind and ready to serve four more years. This lust for power put America in danger.
How could they be so unpatriotic?
So, where will Biden stand in the history books? He was not a failed president because of his declining cognitive abilities. It was his policies that wrecked America.
It is hard to point to a single policy that he got right. On the economy, he was catastrophically bad.
The trillions of dollars of debt he rung up bought nothing. He sent inflation to the highest levels in almost forty years.
The average family lost $2,000 of income after inflation during his reign. More people died of COVID during his presidency than Trump’s — despite the availability of the vaccine.
Interest rates rose. Biden declared war on American energy. He put America back into the Paris Climate Accord—and the rest of the world went on using more fossil fuels than ever. By impeding U.S. oil and gas production and pipelines he played into the hands of our enemies — China and Iran.
Gas prices rose. Small business confidence sagged. Poverty rates rose.
Then there was the sheer incompetence. The bungled Afghanistan withdrawal was a national security disaster. The border became a broken dam with millions seeking to illegally enter the country. The government spent $7.5 billion on electric vehicle chargers and only a handful got built.
Biden gave away hundreds of billions of dollars for an illegal and immoral student loan forgiveness program. He put regulators in charge of key agencies even though — or because — they hate business. A majority of his appointees had no business experience. It showed.
When he departs the White House in the months ahead he will leave the nation poorer, weaker, more divided, more in debt, more vulnerable, and less respected than when he entered office.
This was a man who pledged to unite the country and did just the opposite. He deserves to go down in history as one of the five worst presidents of the 20th and 21st century.
Here is my list starting with the worst: 1) Woodrow Wilson; 2) Herbert Hoover: 3) Jimmy Carter; 4) Joe Biden; 5) Barack Obama.
Now the Democrats want to run Vice President Kamala Harris, who was on board with every Biden policy and helped oversee the worst border catastrophe in modern history.
Just when you thought things could not get any worse.
Stephen Moore is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
The Chandler City Council will vote to renew a police union memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday, a weighty decision given recent allegations of an ongoing FBI corruption investigation involving one of the council members and the former police union president.
Those purportedly under investigation are Councilwoman Jane Poston and former Chandler Law Enforcement Association (CLEA) President Michael Collins. As first reported by ABC15, Chandler’s recently retired police chief, Sean Duggan, claimed the existence of the FBI probe in an email to City Manager Joshua Wright last November. The FBI didn’t confirm the existence of any investigation in response to questioning from the outlet.
“In this matter, information was uncovered indicating Collins and Poston may have committed violations of federal law and as such, an active public corruption criminal investigation is underway,” said Duggan.
Poston denied the existence of any such investigation in a statement released earlier this month to ABC15, calling the claim an “unsubstantiated rumor.” The councilmember said she was unaware of Duggan’s email prior to the recent reporting on its contents.
“No one from any investigative agency has contacted me. Based on the complete lack of evidence, I decided to treat this as the unfounded rumor I believe it to be,” said Poston.
A spokesperson for the city also denied that the city manager was contacted by the FBI regarding such an investigation.
An additional, related concern ahead of Thursday’s vote relates to a potential conflict of interest for Poston over the proposed CLEA MOU. Poston’s company, J2 Media, has done public relations for CLEA in recent years, and serves as one of their business supporters.
One of J2 Media’s creations for CLEA in 2021 was a presentation advocating for terms of the existing MOU.
Thursday’s city council meeting will address the renewal of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CLEA to last through 2026. The updated MOU includes several substantive and expensive changes:
Merit increases of up to five percent for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years;
Maintaining the compensation market position at third market as a measure for market increases;
A $1,500 bonus to certain CLEA members;
A five percent Special Assignment Pay Differential for officers assigned to Bike Team, School Resource Officer, Behavioral Health Unit, and Neighborhood Response Team;
Vacation accrual increases of .3 hours per pay period for 0-5 years of service, .4 hours per pay period for 5-10 years of service, .1 hours per pay period for 10-15 years of service, and the annual maximum vacation accrual cap increase of 80 hours;
A $10,000 contribution into the Post Employment Health Plan (PEHP) of any officer with 10 or more years of service;
A $25 per pay period contribution increase into PEHP accounts by the city;
$900 to $1,750 graded PEHP sick leave contribution amounts based on years of service;
A one-time $10,000 PEHP contribution for officers with 10 years or more of service who didn’t receive a 2024 contribution;
A one-time $5,000 PEHP contribution for officers with 15-19 years of service;
A one-time $10,000 PEHP contribution for officers with 20 or more years of service;
Contributions to retiring officers’ PEHP account align with graded PEHP sick leave contribution scale, except for officers with over 30 years of service (they receive 50 percent of sick leave balance);
And, an increased 1.5 pay rate for officers working through a holiday shift.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced that it had arrested a Tempe man this past weekend “on a federal complaint and arrest warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for making a threat to execute a local Rabbi and ‘every other JEW [sic] I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath.’”
According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona, “the complaint alleges that (the Tempe man) sent an email on the morning of Friday November 3, 2023, to a Rabbi at a local synagogue in Scottsdale, asking the Rabbi to ‘try to convince’ a judge in Utah to ‘drop the charges against’ (him) in a state district court case in Utah. The email stated: ‘If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW [sic] I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath.’ The email went on: ‘If you wish to communicate with me further, I will only meet in person,’ listed an address for the sender in Tempe, and was signed ‘Shalom, Viktor Sitkevicz.’”
United States Attorney Gary Restaino issued a statement in conjunction with the announcement, saying, “Civic engagement and civil dialogue help bind us together as a Nation. We have no tolerance for those who send threatening communications to Jewish faith leaders or to any other people in America. We will continue to exercise our prosecutorial discretion and deploy our resources to charge threats cases here in Arizona.”
The acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix field office, Chad Alvarado, added, “The FBI takes all threats of violence seriously. The FBI and our law enforcement partners must take people who make threats at their word and intervene, because protecting human life is our absolute priority.”
In the release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona credits the FBI for conducting this investigation and the Tempe Police Department and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for assisting.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
