On social media, a bullied teen found fame among child...

[Tennesseer]

Washington Post article and it is behind a paywall. If anyone is interested in reading the complete article, let me know. I will send it in a message to you.

On social media, a bullied teen found fame among child predators worldwide
From his bedroom in Texas, Bradley Cadenhead, then 15, founded an online group that federal authorities say pressures vulnerable children to commit violent or degrading acts.

STEPHENVILLE, Tex. — The idyllic image of Bradley Cadenhead’s close-knit family began to unravel when he was 10.

His mother moved out that year, in 2016. She began “drinking a lot and partying,” she later told authorities. Then in middle school, Cadenhead faced constant bullying. One former classmate said he was viewed as “an easy target.”

The boy whose family was once known in this small town dotted with churches and surrounded by dairy farms for never missing a Sunday service was, by his early teens, isolated and suffering breakdowns.

“I stopped caring about everything,” Bradley Cadenhead later told probation officers. At 15, he dropped out of school and retreated to his room.

It was from his bedroom in a cramped apartment that the once God-fearing boy from Stephenville underwent an extraordinary transformation — from a lonely, isolated teenager into what authorities describe as a notorious predator of the social media age.

Sitting at his computer, Cadenhead harnessed the social media platform Discord to cultivate a domineering online persona, one that soon built a global following among sadists who prey on vulnerable children. Cadenhead and his followers, authorities say, convinced victims to share explicit images and then blackmailed them into harming themselves or committing degrading acts on video. The FBI has said the group, named “764” after the partial Zip code of Cadenhead’s hometown, meets the definition of domestic terrorism.

Today, at 19, Cadenhead is in his second year of an 80-year prison sentence — an unusually harsh punishment for a young offender but one that authorities say matches the gravity of his crimes.

“Very rarely do we get a chance to look evil in the face,” prosecutor Jett Smith told a judge at Cadenhead’s sentencing last year. “This may be one of those times.”

Cadenhead’s current attorney, Chris Perri, has said he is weighing an appeal of the sentence, citing “potential mental health issues,” but has declined to comment further.

To understand how a bullied teen in a small town in Texas was able to commit abuse on such a large scale — and how a social media company failed to stop him — The Washington Post interviewed friends, family members, classmates, school officials and congregants at his former church, and drew from hundreds of criminal and family court documents. The Post also obtained and examined thousands of messages sent from Cadenhead’s Discord accounts between early 2021 until his arrest in August that year.

Rest of article here:  On social media, a bullied teen found fame among child predators worldwide

[chiver78]

thanks for sharing this. I'm honestly shocked it took this long to happen IRL, at least as reported by MSM. there have been at least a couple SVU episodes with this in the plot lines, and they aren't recent. 

[Tennesseer]

Sept 9, 2024 15:50:22 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

thanks for sharing this. I'm honestly shocked it took this long to happen IRL, at least as reported by MSM. there have been at least a couple SVU episodes with this in the plot lines, and they aren't recent. 

The kid is a monster. Deserved his entire 80 year prison sentence.

[djAdvocate]

social media has not shown itself to be a power for great good.

it has, however, shown itself to be a power for great evil.

[seriousthistime]

I read about the 14-year-old girl from Oklahoma about a month ago. 

The girl's teacher had suggested her students go on Discord to show and view artwork with other students.  

[Tiny]

There's a lot to unpack in that article. I'm not saying Cadenhead shouldn't be spending a lot of fully supervised time (years) in some sort of "home" or "institution" or "jail" that is equipped to deal with his mental health issues and possibly even his mental make up. He totally should.   I wouldn't be surprised if the typical prison experience just makes him worse.  I think he should be incarcerated - but he needs something more than the typical incarceration. 


There are the victims. The saddest part is that they were failed in some way by their own family/religion/school/society. Odds are they didn't tell anyone about the terrible things they were being asked to do - maybe out of fear or shame or guilt. Think about that. Feeling you are trapped between a rock and a hard place and you don't feel safe enough to tell anyone. Or you feel anyone you tell will just recoil in horror or give you some pat answer - "pray more" or "try harder to fit in" or whatever it is that adults tell children these days. or that telling someone means you are a bad person (maybe even one god could not love - you know HELL....)

That was the saddest part of reading this article for me. The kids Cadenhead lead down a path to doing things they didn't want to do - but most likely felt they had no way to get out of, no choice, doing what he asked was less horrible than what they faced (from the adults in their life or other kids) if they didn't comply.  To be that alone..... 


On another note (which might just be me...)
I got the undercurrent that if only his family had stayed "religious" he would have been fine. Or maybe if he hadn't 'given up' his faith he would have been fine. That always makes me a little angry. The blame is squarely on the family's lack I'm betting Cadenhead realized the double standards and the falsehoods of religion early on... well before he found Discord. That just adds to the feeling of being "evil" and "going to hell". (Jesus died for our sins so we don't have to go to hell... we just have to believe in Him and follow the churches teachings. otherwise - hell it is.) The "loss of faith" always seems like a cop out reason for why bad things happen or why people do bad things.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

If it was simply faith that kept people from doing bad things the Catholic church wouldn't be in the position it is in today.

Religion often hides predators in plain sight because it gives them power over people.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 9, 2024 20:00:28 GMT -5 Tiny said:

There's a lot to unpack in that article. I'm not saying Cadenhead shouldn't be spending a lot of fully supervised time (years) in some sort of "home" or "institution" or "jail" that is equipped to deal with his mental health issues and possibly even his mental make up. He totally should.   I wouldn't be surprised if the typical prison experience just makes him worse.  I think he should be incarcerated - but he needs something more than the typical incarceration. 


There are the victims. The saddest part is that they were failed in some way by their own family/religion/school/society. Odds are they didn't tell anyone about the terrible things they were being asked to do - maybe out of fear or shame or guilt. Think about that. Feeling you are trapped between a rock and a hard place and you don't feel safe enough to tell anyone. Or you feel anyone you tell will just recoil in horror or give you some pat answer - "pray more" or "try harder to fit in" or whatever it is that adults tell children these days. or that telling someone means you are a bad person (maybe even one god could not love - you know HELL....)

That was the saddest part of reading this article for me. The kids Cadenhead lead down a path to doing things they didn't want to do - but most likely felt they had no way to get out of, no choice, doing what he asked was less horrible than what they faced (from the adults in their life or other kids) if they didn't comply.  To be that alone..... 


On another note (which might just be me...)
I got the undercurrent that if only his family had stayed "religious" he would have been fine. Or maybe if he hadn't 'given up' his faith he would have been fine. That always makes me a little angry. The blame is squarely on the family's lack I'm betting Cadenhead realized the double standards and the falsehoods of religion early on... well before he found Discord. That just adds to the feeling of being "evil" and "going to hell". (Jesus died for our sins so we don't have to go to hell... we just have to believe in Him and follow the churches teachings. otherwise - hell it is.) The "loss of faith" always seems like a cop out reason for why bad things happen or why people do bad things.  

Tiny - there is much more to the article. I am sending you the entire article in a message.