Nihilistic Extremist Denies Grooming LA Girl, 13, For Self Harm And Sex: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Pennsylvania man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges claiming he coerced a 13-year-old Los Angeles girl to send him sexually explicit images of herself, harm herself and meet up for sex in LA County.

Authorities said the man adheres to a violent nihilistic ideology that First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called "one of the most disturbing ideas to crawl out of the internet."

Matthew Edward Pysher, 18, of Bangor, Pennsylvania, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles federal court to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.

The case represents a "growing threat to American families," Essayli said last month.

Prosecutors claim Pysher is a so-called nihilistic violent extremist — or NVE, a new FBI term used to describe people who engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social or religious ideology deriving from a hatred of society and a desire to bring about chaos and social instability.

"NVEs work individually or as part of a network with these goals of destroying civilized society though the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors," an FBI special agent wrote in court documents.

Pysher is accused of meeting the girl, who recently turned 13, on the online chat platform Discord. The pair met on a mental illness-focused Discord server, according to court documents.

Pysher is accused of grooming the girl and encouraging her to send him sexually explicit images of herself. He's also accused of encouraging her to cut herself and engage in other acts of self harm, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 10, the girl's mother contacted the FBI because she was concerned her daughter was being encouraged to harm herself by a person she met online named "Matthew," prosecutors said.

On Feb. 20, Pysher traveled from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. He and an unnamed coconspirator picked the girl up from a location near her Northridge home and took her to a motel in Castaic, prosectors claim.

That day, the girl's mother called the FBI again to report that the girl's grandfather had found a suicide note from the girl and that she had run away from home.

Authorities traced Pysher's phone number and tracked him to the motel. There, they found Pysher and the girl. Inside the room were condoms, a knife, lubricant, razor blades, bloody tissues and a boarding pass from Pysher's flight, prosecutors claim.

Pysher was arrested at the motel, according to Essayli.

Law enforcement also found a faraday bag, which is used to block electronic signals such as those from a cellphone, prosecutors claim.

The girl told police "Pysher came to California to see her and that they had planned on committing suicide together but were unable to do so before being found by law enforcement," according to court documents.

City News Service contributed to this report.