Member of Extremist Network ‘764’ Sentenced to 77 Years in Prison: DOJ

A Tennessee man identified by federal authorities as a member of the extremist network “764” was sentenced to 77 years in prison, federal officials said on Aug 19.

Kyle William Spitze, 27, was sentenced for the production of child sexual abuse material, abetting the distribution of “animal crushing” videos, and possessing and accessing with the intent to view child sexual abuse material, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

Spitze was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release, must register with state sex offender registries, and will have to comply with sex offender conditions, prosecutors said.

FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday hailed the sentencing in a post on X, saying that targeting the 764 online group is “a major priority for” the federal law enforcement bureau.

“This sends a clear message: if you prey on children, this FBI and our DOJ partners will find you and hold you accountable,” he wrote.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the sentence marks a “step toward justice for the families and children harmed by 764,” which has been described by the FBI as a “violent online group made-up of individuals who seek to coerce and manipulate children into engaging in unspeakable acts against themselves, animals, and other children.”

The FBI says the group operates on social media, gaming apps, and online platforms, building trust with their victims before “coercing them into sharing personal information and explicit pictures and videos,” the agency said.

Those videos and photos are then used by members to blackmail the victims.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said on Wednesday that Spitze is considered an “original member” of 764 and a related group, “Harm Nation,” who “was committed to bringing about the downfall of society through terrorism, specifically by targeting children and other vulnerable people and extorting them to engage in criminal sexual conduct, self-harm, and mass casualty events.”

Spitze, he added, received “the longest federal sentence ever imposed on a nihilistic violent extremist” that will send a message that “civil society will not tolerate such depravity.”

Following a December 2023 investigation, Spitze was identified as a member of Harm Nation and was found to have hosted a social media channel where he uploaded child sex abuse material and images of animal mutilation.

One “minor victim later admitted to FBI that she was threatened by Spitze to produce the images for him to upload on a separate social media channel,” the DOJ said, citing the investigation.

The 764 network was created in 2021 by then-15-year-old Texas resident Bradley Cadenhead, who said that the group was helped in its founding by a friend he met through the Minecraft game, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Cadenhead was arrested in 2021 and is currently serving an 80-year prison sentence for possession with intent to promote child pornography.

This year, several FBI offices sent open letters to parents warning of an increase in 764-related activity across the United States and advising them to monitor their children’s online activity and who they might be communicating with.

Parents are also encouraged by the bureau to exercise discretion when posting videos, photos, and other material about their children online.