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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Greggy's Cult.md

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+---
+category: "Organizations"
+tags:
+  - GreggyCult
+  - ChildExploitation
+  - NVE
+  - Online
+  - USA
+start: 2020
+end: 2021
+location: Online (United States)
+created: 2026-05-21
+updated: 2026-05-21
+summary: Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that directly informed the founding of 764.
+---
+
+[[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the [[764 Network]], which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. [[NCITE]] (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) tracked 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across Greggy's Cult, [[CVLT]], and 764 as of December 2025, treating the three as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.[^1]
+
+### 764 Founding Lineage
+
+[[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Bradley Cadenhead]], who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside [[CVLT]].
+
+[[Rumaldo Valdez]], a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the [[Eastern District of New York]] alongside four co-defendants including [[Camden Rodriguez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Hector Bermudez]].[^2]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
+[^2]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704