---
category: "Extremism & Violent Networks"
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