A Pennsylvania man pleaded not guilty Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles to federal charges alleging he coerced 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, entered a plea to two counts: travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
A tentative trial date of May 12 was set.
Pysher was arrested Feb. 20 in a Castaic motel where he was holed up with the girl, officials said.
According to documents 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.
The case represents a “growing threat to American families,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said after the arrest.
Based on a review of the contents of the girl’s smartphone and Pysher’s online activities, law enforcement believes the defendant is associated with NVE ideology.
Court papers detail the nature of NVEs (nihilistic violent extremists), a new FBI category describing 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.
“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.”
On Feb. 10, the teen’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 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 teen 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.”
“This could’ve been a lot worse,” Essayli said.