A Philadelphia man was arrested last Friday after federal officials said he befriended a 13-year old Los Angeles girl online and encouraged the child to send pics of her harming herself.
18-year-old Matthew Pysher and the teen met on a Discord server “related to individuals suffering from mental illness,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“He encouraged her to send him sexually explicit material, and most disturbingly, he encouraged her to cut herself and to send them pictures of her harming herself,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told reporters on Monday.
On February 20, Pysher then reportedly flew out to Los Angeles, where officials say he picked up the girl and took her to a hotel in Castaic. He was arrested at the hotel.
“The victim told law enforcement that he had engaged in sexual conduct with her and that he used a knife to repeatedly cut her and that he also choked her to the point where she couldn't speak,” Essayli said. “We believe that he is associated with this nihilistic, violent extremist ideology, NVE - one of the most twisted and disturbing ideas to crawl out of the internet. NVE’s are associated with individuals who engage in criminal conduct within the United States to further goals that derive mainly from a hatred of society and a desire to bring about its collapse.”
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Officials added that law enforcement was tipped off about Pysher after the teen’s mother called the FBI on February 10, and told them what Pysher was doing online with her daughter.
Pysher was charged with interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
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