March 27, 2026 – LOS ANGELES, CA – A Texas man and convicted rapist pleaded guilty on Thursday 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, a.k.a. “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.
“Going after dangerous pedophiles is one of the top priorities of our office,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “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.”
“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.”
“This guilty plea marks a significant step toward accountability for the actions of this network of predators,” said HSI Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang. “HSI special agents uncovered this scheme through extensive investigation, analysis of electronic communication, and victim reporting to ultimately identify those responsible for this deplorable conduct.”
According to his plea agreement, Merritt was a member and leader of CVLT – pronounced “cult” – which was a group of individuals dedicated to the online sexual exploitation of children, primarily vulnerable girls. CVLT members, including Merritt, worked together online to entice and coerce children into self-producing CSAM and to engage in self-harm. CVLT members – Merritt included – hurt at least five minor victims.
CVLT consisted of multiple individuals, including Merritt and co-defendants Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 42, a.k.a. “Whoops,” of Pahoa, Hawaii, Rohan Rane, 29, and Collin John Thomas Walker, 24, a.k.a. “Wrath,” of Bridgeton, New Jersey.
The purpose of CVLT’s child exploitation was to create an army of sadist followers. CVLT espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia as its core principles, among others, and exposed children to material depicting and promoting these principles. This included repeated uses of Nazi symbols and language and the distribution of bondage, discipline, sadist, and masochistic (BDSM) and gore CSAM.
The defendants each joined the CVLT as early as 2020 and served as leaders of the group, including hosting servers, controlling membership and access, and directing and instructing victims during the creation of CVLT extortion videos and other materials.
Together, the defendants groomed and coerced numerous minors into self-harm by exposing them to violent and extremist content and extreme philosophies, such as neo-Nazism, nihilism, pedophilia, and anarchy.
Having degraded and groomed the children, the defendants would then knowingly employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce children to self-produce CSAM and self-harm.
United States District Judge Hernán D. Vera scheduled a January 7, 2027, sentencing hearing, at which time Merritt will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Rane is in custody in France on CSAM-related charges pending extradition to the United States. Walker and Borge pleaded guilty in October 2025 and December 2025, respectively, to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and are expected to be sentenced in the coming months. They remain in federal custody.
Homeland Security Investigations, the Los Angeles Police Department, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office (Virginia), the Iowa State University Police, Police Nationale (France), the National Crime Agency (United Kingdom), the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, and EUROPOL are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Kellye Ng of the Major Crimes Section and Justice Department Trial Attorneys Justin Sher and James Donnelly of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting this case.
This case is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit: www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: DOJ Release
