Arizona man accused of making child mutilation videos for online terror groups, feds say

An Arizona man was arrested this week for allegedly producing child sex abuse materials, in which he coerced minors to self-mutilate, as part of his efforts with online terror groups, federal prosecutors said.

Baron Martin, 20, of Tucson, Arizona, was arrested Wednesday, according to a Friday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Martin is also accused of cyberstalking, and if convicted, faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly producing child sex abuse material and an additional 10 years for cyberstalking.

A public defender listed for Martin in court documents wasn’t immediately reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

Prosecutors allege Martin is a member of the violent terror networks known as 764 and CVLT. The networks, according to prosecutors, targets minors in the United States and around the world and shares violent content with children in an effort to “desensitize young people to violence and break down societal norms regarding violence” in order to groom and corrupt minors for future violence.

Historically, prosecutors said, the networks targets underage females, grooms them, extorts them and coerces them to mutilate themselves. The mutilation acts are then photographed, video recorded or streamed online and shared with other members of the groups, prosecutors said.

Since 2021, Martin, who went by the online name “Convict,” prosecutors said, appeared on online chatrooms associated with 764 and CVLT. Martin, who claimed online he was the owner of the online terror groups, taught other members how to extort victims and proclaiming himself as the “king of extortion,” prosecutors said.

In September 2022, Martin produced child sex abuse material on Discord, an online chat and gaming platform, prosecutors said. He made two minors mutilate themselves for him, including making a 13-year-old child cut his name throughout her body. He threatened to leak pictures of the child if she did not comply, prosecutors said. A second minor victim was 16 years old, prosecutors said.

Martin is also accused of cyberstalking a different 13-year-old victim, related to threats he sent over Discord in September 2022, prosecutors said.

No one with Discord was immediately reached for comment Friday.

According to prosecutors, Martin told the teen victim he put a hit on her grandmother. Martin agreed to pay someone $3,000 to kidnap and kill the teen’s grandmother, prosecutors said.

Martin posted the phone numbers of both the minor and her grandmother and told the network to contact both numbers to harass them, according to prosecutors.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen said in the statement his agency is committed to stopping the terror groups Martin belonged to, calling them a “dangerous network of violent extremists.”