Federal officials said they rescued a 13-year-old girl from sexual and physical assault from a man who groomed her online and lured her to a California motel.
Eighteen-year-old Matthew Edward Pysher of Bangor, Pennsylvania, traveled by plane to Los Angeles on Feb. 20 to meet the victim near her home and take her to a motel in Castaic, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.
In the motel room, investigators found condoms, a knife, lubricant, razor blades, bloody tissues, and a boarding pass.
Pysher had been grooming the girl for several months after meeting her in a chat room on the Discord app for people suffering from mental illness, according to prosecutors.
The girl’s mother contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 10 because she believed her daughter was being coerced into harming herself by a man named Matthew.
A suicide note from the girl was found by her family, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators were able to trace Pysher to the motel room, where they found the teenager hiding in the bathroom. She allegedly told them that Pysher had used a knife to repeatedly cut her and that they had engaged in sexual conduct.
In the motel room, investigators found condoms, a knife, lubricant, razor blades, bloody tissues, and a boarding pass. They also found near the girl’s cell phone a Faraday bag, which is used to block electric transmissions.
The girl said he told her they were going to commit suicide together by jumping off the top of a hotel.
Investigators said Pysher had groomed the girl to send him material of herself committing sexual acts and also images of herself committing self-harm in the months before flying out to meet her. The criminal complaint had screenshots of texts he allegedly sent her where he explicitly discussed cutting instructions.
Pysher was charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
Investigators determined that Pysher was a part of a “nihilistic violent extremist” ideology that sought to manipulate vulnerable young people into self-harm. Members of an NVE group called 764 have coerced victims into hurting others and even committing suicide.
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said the case should serve as a warning to parents with children on the internet.
“If your children have access to use the internet, sadistic predators may have access to your kids,” he said. “Law enforcement will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to harm children. We advise parents to keep their kids offline.”
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