Southland children among those coerced by neo-Nazis into producing child pornography, feds say

Four members of an online neo-Nazi group ran an international child exploitation ring that coerced minors into producing sadistic and abusive pornography and then blackmailed victims if they refused to continue, according to a newly unsealed grand jury indictment.

The four men are alleged members of CVLT (pronounced cult), which declared neo-Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles. The indictment, reached Jan. 17 and unsealed Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice, says the men used the internet to groom vulnerable children into producing videos of sexual acts and self-harm.

The men were each charged with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and face a sentence of 20 years to life in prison if convicted as charged, prosecutors said. They are Colin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, N.J.; Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa, Hawaii; Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Spring, Texas; and Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of Antibes, France.

The indictment reveals horrifying details about the acts these men are accused of coercing 16 minors into performing.

Two of the minors are from San Bernardino County, according to the indictment.

“This child pornography sometimes included use of pets or other children, or insertion of foreign objects like knives or cacti into their genitals,” states the indictment.

The various means of degradation the men allegedly used to groom the children into producing this violent and sexual content are equally appalling.

“Victims were encouraged to engage in increasingly 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,” prosecutors said.

The men are accused of exploiting children’s vulnerabilities, such as mental health challenges or prior sexual abuse, to break down their willpower and resistance. When victims hesitated, resisted or threatened to tell parents or authorities, the men would use various forms of blackmail to retain power over them, prosecutors allege.

This included threatening to distribute the child pornography or the child‘s and their family’s personally identifiable information to the public, according to the indictment. When children refused to comply, the group would sometimes follow through with these threats, the indictment states.

Rane, Walker and Merritt are accused of acting as leaders in the group by hosting and running CVLT’s online servers and controlling membership to the group.

Walker and Borge were arrested Thursday. Rane has been in custody in France since 2022, where he was previously charged with several child exploitation offenses. Merritt is serving a 50-year sentence in Virginia for child sex abuse crimes committed in 2020 and 2021.

This case is being investigated by local, national and international law enforcement agencies. This includes the Los Angeles Police Department, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, Henry County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, Iowa State University Police, France’s Police Nationale, the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.