The administrator of a 764 online extremist network, Kyle William Spitze, was sentenced to 77 years in prison on Wednesday over the production of child sexual abuse material and distribution of videos depicting animals being crushed.
Spitze, 27, from Friendsville, Tennessee, was a member of the Nihilistic Violent Extremist group 764 and administrator of “HarmNation,” a network within 764, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in an Aug. 19 statement. Groups such as 764 and HarmNation engage in the production of extreme gore media and child sexual abuse material (CSAM), often carrying out coordinated extortion of minors to comply with their “depraved and perverse demands,” the department said.
In December 2023, the FBI began looking into tips that members from HarmNation were distributing CSAM, with Spitze identified as a member. He was also found to have hosted a social media channel that uploaded videos and images of naked minor girls who mutilated themselves. The girls wrote monikers of Spitze on their bodies with blood or carved themselves.
The channel also hosted images depicting animal mutilation, with a variation of one of Spitze’s monikers written on the pictures.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for Spitze’s cellphone in February 2024. The cell phone was found to contain similar images and videos. One of the minor victims told the FBI that Spitze threatened her to produce images for him that were uploaded on another social media channel.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the DOJ in 2006. The initiative seeks to reduce the sexual exploitation of children and combines law enforcement efforts, public awareness, and community action for this purpose.
According to the DOJ statement, Spitze admitted a terrorist motive for his crimes. The 77-year jail term is the “longest federal prison sentence ever imposed” on a Nihilistic Violent Extremist. In addition, Spitze was sentenced to lifetime supervised release. He will be required to register with state sex offender registries.
“The Department has pledged to take out online predator networks and today’s sentence is one step toward justice for the families and children harmed by 764,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement.
“These types of crimes are the worst of the worst: preying on vulnerable children in the name of a violent and twisted ideology. Federal law enforcement will not stop until nihilistic violent extremist groups and their depraved members are identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
In a recent case, part of Project Safe Childhood, an Orlando man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for transporting CSAM, according to an Aug. 20 DOJ statement.
764 Threat
The 764 group, of which Spitze was part, is one of the focus areas for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In November last year, FBI Director Kash Patel said that taking down the group has become one of the highest priorities for the bureau.At the time, Patel said that more than 300 investigations were underway in the United States related to the group.
According to federal officials, 764 and related networks operate across social media, mobile apps, and gaming platforms, aiming to control victims through threats, manipulation, and blackmail.
The FBI said in its advisories that these predators initially build trust or romantic grooming relationships with their targets, later escalating to extortion, including by threatening to share images or publicly doxxing the targets.
The victims tend to be in the 10–17 age group, although younger children have also been targeted. Many of the victims suffer from trauma, isolation, or depression, which are factors the network exploits to strengthen their control over the targets.
In an April 22 open letter to parents, guardians, and caregivers explaining the threat posed by 764, FBI Milwaukee advised them to monitor their children’s activities, especially the people they are communicating with.
The agency asked parents to talk to their children about the risks of sharing personal information, videos, and images online.
Some of the potential signs of victimization include sudden behavior changes, signs of animal cruelty, scars or fresh cuts on the body, threatening to commit suicide, and sudden gifts to children arriving at the home, the FBI said.