Teen Horry County resident linked to ‘violent’ online group that exploits minors
A 16-year-old Horry County resident has been arrested after being linked to a “violent online network” that exploits minors.
The teen’s name was not released because they are underage. More information about what the minor was charged with was not immediately available.
The Horry County Sheriff’s Office sent out a news release Thursday afternoon warning parents about the group titled “764.” The network uses blackmail and manipulation to coerce minors into “producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide.”
The group tends to target victims between the ages of 10 and 17, who are experiencing mental health challenges, according to the release. Members of the group tend to threaten the victim with posting the footage to “continue extortion and maintain control.”
The investigation started with a tip the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received from the online platform Discord, Horry County Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Brennan Cavanagh told The Sun News.
Social platforms, such as Discord, have safeguards in place that identify inappropriate or illicit content from users, she said in a statement. The center sent the tip to the Horry County Sheriff’s Office where they requested help from FBI officials in Columbia.
Deputies with the office then discovered a link between the 16-year-old and the group and took the individual into custody.
“This is one of the most disturbing cases I’ve seen in my eight years as a child sex crimes investigator,” Horry County Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Troxell said in the release. “The ages of the defendant and the victim, and the material generated as a result of extortion was both extreme and unsettling.”
The 16-year-old Horry County resident is not the first person in the U.S. to be arrested in connection to the group.
Erik Lee Madison, who is 20 and from Maryland, pleaded guilty in March to federal child sex abuse charges. Madison was arrested in November 2025 and was accused of sexually exploiting at least 10 minor female victims through the group “764.”
Madison faces a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison for exploitation of a minor and up to 10 years for cyberstalking, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
