5.8 KiB
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| Extremism & Violent Networks |
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2026-05-21 | 2026-10-09 | Rumaldo Valdez was a U.S. Navy petty officer stationed in Hawaii and Greggy's Cult member, sentenced to 97 months for child pornography possession in March 2026, with additional EDNY charges pending. | 2004 | Wahiawa, Hawaii |
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Rumaldo Valdez, known online as "Duck," was a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4) stationed at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in Wahiawa, Hawaii, a Department of Defense installation. He was a member of Greggy's Cult (also called the "Cult of Greg"), an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 and is documented as a direct predecessor to the 764 Network. The FBI arrested Valdez in May 2025 at the Wahiawa installation. He pleaded guilty on October 24, 2025, to possession of child pornography committed on a U.S. military base, and was sentenced in March 2026 to 97 months (approximately eight years) in federal prison plus 10 years of supervised release and $33,000 in restitution to 11 identified victims, by a federal judge in the District of Hawaii. Separate charges were pending against him in the Eastern District of New York as of that date.1
Greggy's Cult Membership
Greggy's Cult operated from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 using methods that would later define the 764 network's operational model: recruiting minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coercing them into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and blackmailing them with that material to compel ongoing compliance and self-harm. NCITE tracked Greggy's Cult alongside CVLT and 764 as one of three connected networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes by December 2025.
Valdez's devices, seized at the time of his arrest, contained CSAM described in the government's sentencing memorandum as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence," stored in two password-encrypted digital containers.2
Hawaii Charges and Sentencing
State and federal investigators brought Valdez's case as possession of violent child pornography on a U.S. military installation, allowing federal jurisdiction. His October 24, 2025 guilty plea resolved the Hawaii charges, and his March 2026 sentencing imposed 97 months of incarceration, 10 years of supervised release, and $33,000 in restitution distributed to 11 identified victims.
Eastern District of New York Indictment
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment that was unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Valdez alongside four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release on 10 counts including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, producing child pornography, and making interstate threats. The co-defendants were Camden Rodriguez (22, Longmont, Colorado), Zachary Dosch (26, Albuquerque, New Mexico; he had separately pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges but remained unsentenced), David Brilhante (28, San Diego, California), and Hector Bermudez (29, New York). The EDNY case was pending as of Valdez's March 2026 Hawaii sentencing.1
The docket records the order to unseal and the redacted indictment on December 2, 2025, and the Justice Department's December 2 release gives the same date and describes Valdez as "of Honolulu, Hawaii."34 The docket's count list places him in Counts One through Ten.3 His counsel moved for appointment of counsel on December 15, 2025, and a protective order covering discovery as to Valdez was updated on February 2, 2026 and endorsed on February 4, 2026.3 The May 8, 2026 government letter on the first global Rule 16 production names Valdez among the five defendants then in the case.3 The government's December 10, 2025 motion describes him as in custody awaiting sentencing in the District of Hawaii following a guilty plea to possession of child pornography, in case 1:25-cr-112.5
Footnotes
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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; KITV. "Former Navy petty officer sentenced to over 8 years in federal prison in child pornography case." https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/former-navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-over-8-years-in-federal-prison-in-child-pornography/article_125297e0-b011-49d5-82ff-3b75d615a6d6.html ↩︎
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Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Navy petty officer sentenced to prison in sextortion case." March 2026. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/03/02/breaking-news/navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-sextortion-case/ ↩︎
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United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entries 8 and 9 (December 2, 2025), entry 36 (December 15, 2025), entries 61 and 62 (February 2 and 4, 2026), entry 91 (May 8, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/ ↩︎
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DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet ↩︎
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Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, footnote 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf ↩︎