'Most prolific' member of online extremist network 764 sentenced to 77 years in prison

A federal judge has sentenced a 27-year-old Tennessee man to 77 years in prison for his targeting of young girls online as part of the extremist network 764, which the FBI deems a form of "modern-day terrorism."

The sentence handed down to Kyle Spitze on Wednesday marks the longest federal sentence so far for any associate of 764, whose mostly young followers around the world use popular social media platforms to methodically target, groom and push vulnerable teens into harming themselves and others.

"[Y]ou made sport of placing young minors in your own special 'hell' simply for the crime of being an insecure teenaged girl," prosecutors told Spitze in a memo before sentencing.

According to prosecutors, Spitze claimed online to have "groomed" more than 2,600 victims in the United States and overseas. Prosecutors said two of his victims ultimately took their own lives, believing "they would never be rid of his evil."

While anyone can be targeted, members of 764 and similar online networks often target underage females, first befriending them and then using threats, blackmail, and other forms of manipulation to extort then into sharing or live-streaming acts of pornography, self-harm, animal torture, and even suicide, according to authorities.

Recordings of such so-called "content" is then used to further extort victims and is often shared widely online to boost the perpetrator's status within 764-related communities, authorities say.

In their memo ahead of Spitze's sentencing, prosecutors said Spitze -- using the online moniker "Criminal" -- produced and distributed so much "content" that he became "the most prolific" member of 764 and an offshoot known as 'Harm Nation.'"

"The internet provided [Spitze] with unlimited access to his victims, allowing him to pursue and inflict harm on young girls without ever meeting them in person," prosecutors wrote.

The FBI and Justice Department consider 764 part of an emerging national security threat called "nihilistic violent extremism," which is characterized by violence intended to undo society through the glorification and normalization of self-harm, animal abuse and mass murder.

The FBI has said it currently has more than 450 cases open tied to nihilistic violent extremism -- nearly twice the number of cases just one year ago.

In their memo, prosecutors described in detail how Spitze targeted a 12-year-old girl from an unidentified rural community.

After meeting her on a popular social media platform, he flattered her with attention and told her she was his girlfriend -- something he told many of his victims, according to prosecutors.

He sent her sexually explicit videos and then convinced her to send him sexually explicit videos of herself then later threatened to throw a brick through her window if she didn't comply with his escalating demands, prosecutors said.

On a video call, he demanded that the girl cut herself as deep as she could, threatening to leak compromising videos of her if she didn't comply, according to prosecutors, according to prosecutors. On another video call, he pressured her into killing a chicken, spelling his online moniker with its intestines, and videotaping it all for him, according to prosecutors. He then shared the video on his social media accounts, promoting it as "awesome," prosecutors said.

When the girl then posted something negative about Spitze online, he threatened to kill her, said prosecutors.

Prosecutors described a young man seemingly devoid of remorse or compassion -- a sadist who didn't see his victims as human and who had become numb to the drug addiction, the loss, and the violent trauma he experienced himself in recent years.

In 2023, Spitze provoked his mother's boyfriend into shooting him inside their home, prosecutors said. The bullet struck Spitze's ear, and Spitze recorded the entire incident -- then when police then responded, his mother's boyfriend killed himself, according to prosecutors.

Spitze then posted video of the incident on social media, "which subsequently went viral" and made him "infamous," prosecutors recounted.

Several months later, in February 2024, while Spitze and his mother were living in a hotel, he found his mother unconscious in her own blood, according to prosecutors. Instead of calling 911, he "made two graphic videos of the scene ... and shared them to social media," prosecutors said.

The FBI arrested Spitze days later.

Within months, while in jail, Spitze asked his father for help communicating with at least one of his victims, according to prosecutors. Spitze's father then contacted one victim and told her to delete any evidence that could harm Spitze's case, prosecutors said. Spitze's father was arrested himself and later pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a victim. He was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

In late 2024, Spitze pleaded guilty to several charges related to child pornography and animal cruelty, and had been awaiting sentencing since then.

Prosecutors said 77 years in prison is "the only appropriate sentence" for Spitze, especially because "[764] members and their copycats need to see severe sentencing being ordered on their predecessors, with the knowledge that they will receive the same."

In recent years, the FBI and Justice Department have charged dozens of people for alleged crimes tied to 764 or similar networks.

764 was launched in 2021 by a 15-year-old in Texas, Bradley Cadenhead, who named it after the first three digits of his ZIP code. Since then, 764 has spread around the world, growing into more of an ideology than a singular group, experts say. Other groups, inspired by 764, have formed with different names but nearly identical tactics and goals, according to authorities.