Prosecutors say Baron Cain Martin used online threats, child exploitation and violence to advance the extremist network’s aims.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Federal prosecutors are pressing what they describe as the nation’s first terrorism case against an alleged member of the online extremist network 764, accusing a Tucson man of using child exploitation, blackmail and violent coercion to push the group’s ideology and terrorize young victims in the United States and abroad.
What began with child sexual abuse and cyberstalking charges has grown into a broad federal case that now includes terrorism-related counts, conspiracy allegations and claims that the defendant helped run a violent online enterprise from Tucson. Prosecutors say the case matters beyond Arizona because it signals how the Justice Department plans to confront 764, a network investigators describe as organized, ideological and focused on grooming minors into self-harm, sexual abuse and acts of cruelty.
Baron Cain Martin, identified by prosecutors as a Tucson resident who used the online name “Convict,” was first arrested in December 2024. At that stage, the government said he had produced child sexual abuse material and engaged in cyberstalking tied to his participation in 764 and a related online network known as CVLT. Prosecutors later expanded the case. In October 2025, a federal grand jury returned a 29-count superseding indictment that accused Martin of participating in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to kill, kidnap or maim a person in a foreign country, producing and distributing child pornography, coercing minors into sexual activity, cyberstalking, wire fraud conspiracy and offenses tied to animal crush videos. Martin has remained in federal custody since his arrest. In a recent television interview, U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said the case is the first in the country to pursue terrorism charges against an alleged member of 764, adding that the prosecution is centered on violence driven by ideology.
According to the indictment, prosecutors say Martin was active in 764 chatrooms as far back as 2019 and rose into a leadership role. They allege he acted as both a participant and administrator in online spaces where vulnerable juveniles were targeted for grooming, extortion and abuse. The charging document says Martin wrote a guide explaining how to identify, manipulate and extort minors, with special focus on young people already struggling with mental health. Prosecutors say at least nine victims were identified in the case and that eight of them were minors between 11 and 15 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. The indictment says Martin and others pressured victims to create sexual images, extortion videos and animal abuse material. It also alleges that, in September 2022, Martin conspired with others to coerce a victim living outside the United States to self-harm, self-maim and kill themself. Prosecutors have also described conduct that went beyond humiliation and sexual coercion, including allegations that victims were pushed toward acts of extreme violence. What remains unclear in public records is how many additional victims investigators may still be trying to identify and whether any more defendants will be charged in Arizona as the inquiry continues.
The government’s description of 764 is central to the legal theory in the case. Federal officials have portrayed the network as a nihilistic violent extremist group whose members use popular online platforms to find children, normalize gore and explicit abuse material, and break down moral limits in service of a wider accelerationist belief system. In public statements, officials have said members seek to spread fear and chaos, gain standing inside the network and corrupt minors toward future violence. That framing helps explain why prosecutors are treating the case as more than a child exploitation prosecution. ABC News reported when the terrorism-related count was filed in October 2025 that the charge did not mean the U.S. government had formally designated 764 as a foreign terrorist organization. Instead, the case appears to test whether members’ actions can still qualify as terrorist activity under federal law. The Justice Department has used similar public language in other 764 cases, but the Tucson prosecution stands out because prosecutors say Martin’s conduct was intended not only to abuse victims but also to advance an ideology built around fear, cruelty and social collapse.
Officials have used unusually stark language to describe the allegations. In announcing the superseding indictment, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the alleged crimes were “unthinkably depraved.” FBI Director Patel said Martin’s actions were so extreme that prosecutors charged him with supporting terrorism. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said the conduct described in the case was intended to inflict pain, spread fear and destroy innocence. Courchaine has said publicly that the conduct alleged in Tucson included directing children to violently self-harm and, in one instance, putting out what he described as a hit on a grandmother. The indictment itself says Martin provided “personnel, services, and expert advice or assistance” in support of a conspiracy to kill or maim a person in a foreign country. If convicted, Martin could face up to life in prison on counts including participating in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to kill, kidnap or maim a person in a foreign country, and coercion and enticement of a child. Other counts carry penalties ranging from 10 to 30 years, along with mandatory minimum sentences on several child exploitation charges.
The Tucson case has unfolded as federal investigators warn that 764-related activity is expanding, not shrinking. In local reporting this month, Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix field office, said investigators have seen a 490% increase in these kinds of cases over the past year. He said members of 764 and splinter groups look for victims on platforms popular with children, including gaming and social spaces where young users can be approached by someone posing as a peer or friend. That broader context helps explain why federal prosecutors are presenting Martin as part of a larger pattern instead of an isolated offender. The Justice Department has brought other cases tied to 764 around the country, including prosecutions focused on sexual exploitation and cyberstalking. In March 2026, a member of the network pleaded guilty in Maryland to exploiting minors and cyberstalking. But the Arizona prosecution appears to be the furthest-reaching attempt yet to connect the group’s online abuse tactics to a terrorism-based legal framework. For investigators, the stakes reach beyond one defendant: the case could shape how future 764 prosecutions are charged, argued and tried.
The scenes described by prosecutors are largely digital, but the human toll in the case is not abstract. Authorities say Martin operated behind a keyboard in Tucson while victims, some barely in middle school, were pushed to hurt themselves, perform degrading acts and record abuse for circulation inside the network. Courchaine told local television that the motive was not money alone but status and ideology, saying the conduct was aimed at bringing down the system. That distinction matters to the government’s case because it ties the alleged abuse to a broader extremist purpose rather than private cruelty alone. The language used by investigators also reflects the challenge of explaining 764 to the public: it is neither a conventional street gang nor a formally designated foreign terror group, but a loose online network that prosecutors say uses fear, humiliation and violence as organizing tools. Martin has pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges filed after his arrest, and the case is expected to move toward trial in June. Until then, the central questions will be whether prosecutors can prove the network’s ideological purpose, whether jurors accept the terrorism theory and how much of the government’s evidence from online chats, victim accounts and digital records will reach the courtroom.
The case remains pending in federal court, with Martin still in custody and prosecutors preparing for the next pretrial steps before a June trial setting. The next milestone is whether the court keeps that timetable and how much of the government’s terrorism-based theory survives as the case moves closer to a jury.
Author note: Last updated April 5, 2026.