In a case described Monday as “one of the most disturbing ideas to crawl out of the internet,” a Pennsylvania man has been arrested and charged after allegedly coercing a 13-year-old Northridge girl to send him sexually explicit material of herself and images of self-harm over the internet.
Matthew Edward Pysher, 18, of Bangor, Pennsylvania, was arrested late Friday in a Castaic motel where he was holed up with the girl, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
Pysher is charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison.
The case represents a “growing threat to American families,” Essayli said at a news conference.
Court papers detail the nature of NVEs — nihilistic violent extremists — a new FBI category linked to suspects who allegedly engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social or religious ideology deriving from a hatred of society and a desire to bring about chaos and social instability.
Based on a review of the contents of the victim’s smartphone and Pysher’s online activities, law enforcement believes the defendant is associated with NVE ideology.
“It is evil and it is sadistic,” Essayli told reporters. “They look for kids who are depressed and vulnerable … it is a very sick and twisted ideology.”
According to an affidavit filed in Los Angeles federal court, Pysher allegedly groomed and encouraged the victim to send him material of herself engaging in sexually explicit acts. He also encouraged the victim to cut herself and engage in other acts of self-harm, prosecutors contend.
On Feb. 10, the victim’s mother contacted the FBI because she was concerned her daughter was being encouraged to harm herself by a person named “Matthew,” whom the victim met on the Discord online platform, court papers show.
Federal prosecutors said Pysher traveled to Los Angeles Friday to meet the victim. On the same day, Pysher met the girl near her San Fernando Valley home and took her to a motel in Castaic, prosecutors allege.
The girl left “a suicide note” at her house before leaving with Pysher, officials said.
The victim met Pysher on a Discord server related to individuals suffering from mental illness, according to Essayli, who described the circumstances of the case as “one of the most disturbing ideas to crawl out of the internet.”
Pyser was scheduled to make his initial federal court appearance Monday afternoon.
“This could’ve been a lot worse,” Essayli said.