A Maryland man who belonged to a violent extremist network pleaded guilty to federal child sex abuse charges stemming from a year-long campaign in which he sexually exploited at least 10 minor female victims online, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Erik Lee Madison, 20, of Halethorpe, Maryland, entered guilty pleas to sexual exploitation of a child and cyberstalking in U.S. District Court in the District of Maryland, according to a DOJ press release. U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland announced the plea alongside FBI Baltimore Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul and police chiefs from Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County.
Court documents show that between November 2024 and November 2025, Madison operated as a member and associate of “764,” a criminal organization the Justice Department classifies as a nihilistic violent extremist network.
Using various online platforms, Madison coerced minor female victims — located both inside and outside the United States — into producing and streaming sexually explicit content and self-harm acts, including cutting themselves with razors and carving words and signs into their skin.
In some instances, according to court documents, Madison directed victims to use their own blood to write his online monikers on walls and stream the footage to him. He also encouraged victims to injure animals.
Madison then used the recorded material to extort his victims, threatening to harm them and their families, publicly release the footage, expose their personal information through “doxing,” and conduct “swatting” attacks against them and their relatives, prosecutors said.
The Justice Department described 764 as a network that uses mainstream social media platforms to distribute child sexual abuse material and extreme gore content while targeting vulnerable young people. The DOJ said the network routinely pressures victims into self-mutilation, sexual acts, harm to animals, and, in some cases, suicide or other violence.
Madison faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison on the sexual exploitation charge, along with a maximum of 10 years for cyberstalking. Sentencing is scheduled for June 16.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordinated federal, state, and local law enforcement efforts.
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