An alert from a concerned parent two weeks ago led to an FBI raid Friday in Castaic and then a federal judge Monday ordering the 18-year-old suspect held without bail on charges accusing him of grooming a 13-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit material of herself and images of self-harm over the internet, according to federal court records.
FBI agents raided the Rodeway Inn Motel and reported finding a 13-year-old Northridge girl who had been picked up near her home and brought there with sexual and suicidal intent, according to a federal complaint filed Monday.
Federal prosecutors have alleged Matthew Edward Pysher, an 18-year-old from Bangor, Pennsylvania, flew across the country in order to commit an assault that was intervened by federal agents, in furtherance of what they identified as a nihilistic violent extremist group, or NVE.
Pysher was ordered detained, or held without bond, until an arraignment scheduled for March 31.
The goal of an NVE, according to the complaint, is “to bring about (society’s) collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. NVEs work individually or as part of a network with these goals of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors.”
The complaint states a San Fernando Valley parent notified law enforcement that she was concerned her daughter was “being encouraged to harm herself by an individual named ‘Matthew,’” whom she met through a popular online platform known as Discord, through a chat group aimed at individuals who have mental illness, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Pysher encouraged the victim to harm herself prior to her being found with cuts in the Castaic motel.
A family member had found a suicide note from the victim after she had run away from home on the morning of Pysher’s arrest, per the complaint.
After using digital means to track Pysher’s movement to the Castaic area, the special agent who led the investigation was assisted by a canvass of hotels there by law enforcement officials, who received cooperation from the hotel’s management, according to the federal complaint.
Law enforcement officers who entered the room on the day of Pysher’s arrest reported finding “a knife, several razor blades and bloody tissues” that were photographed in the complaint.
Pysher is charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison, according to a Department of Justice news release.
“The facts charged in this case are chilling,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who leads the Central District Office, which includes Los Angeles, said in the release. “If your children have access to use the internet, sadistic predators may have access to your kids. Law enforcement will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to harm children. We advise parents to keep their kids offline.”