AMES, Iowa — The Iowa State University Police Department is crediting a student for helping bring down what the Department of Justice dubbed a “neo-Nazi child exploitation enterprise” that targeted dozens of young people.

According to ISU police, the investigation began in November 2020 when a student called the department for help after reportedly being blackmailed by a man she met online in 2018.

The student met the man on a messaging app and had sent multiple photos of herself to him in exchange for money in 2018, ISU police said. She didn’t hear from him again until she was a first-year student at ISU when he threatened to publicly release the photos and her information if she didn’t follow his demands. Police said the man never demanded money and “was more interested in exerting power and control over the student.”

According to police, through the investigation officers discovered that the man targeting the student had also sent threatening messages to other young women. Officers then requested the help of Iowa’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Over several months investigators combed through evidence and information, which eventually led to the discovery that evidence in this case was also connected to a Homeland Security investigation, ISU police said. Investigators with Homeland Security joined the case in 2021.

Eventually, investigators identified a suspect — 41-year-old Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, of Pahoa, Hawaii. According to ISU police, Borge was one of four members of CVLT, an online group that supports neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia.

In late January the Department of Justice officially charged Borge with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. The additional three members 23-year-old Colin John Thomas Walker, 28-year-old Rohan Sandeep Rane, and 24-year-old Kaleb Christopher Merritt, have also been charged in the investigation.

Iowa News: