Lethbridge teen charged with terrorism, child sexual abuse and animal cruelty
The 17-year-old was arrested after an investigation into an online user linked to the 764 network, a listed terrorist entity.
LETHBRIDGE — A 17-year-old from Lethbridge faces multiple terrorism, child sexual abuse and animal cruelty charges after an investigation into an online user linked to the 764 network, a listed terrorist entity.
The youth was arrested on Sept. 3 by the RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET).
The Lethbridge Police Service referred INSET to a Discord user affiliated with an online group involved in ideologically motivated violent extremism, the RCMP said in a news release.
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Investigators determined the user’s online activities were consistent with those of the 764 network, which became a listed terrorist entity in December 2025.
The teen is charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, committing an offence for the benefit of a terrorist group, distributing child sexual abuse material, possessing child sexual abuse material and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
The youth is scheduled to appear at the Alberta Court of Justice in Lethbridge on Oct. 14 and cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Members of the 764 network are known to have extreme, radicalist views and victimize children through desensitizing and radicalizing them to violence, the RCMP said.
The Government of Canada defines the group as “a decentralized transnational network of online nihilistic violent extremists, whose core beliefs are rooted in misanthropy (a hatred of humanity or the human race) and nihilism (the rejection of all religious, moral and social values, often accompanied by a belief that life is meaningless).”
They operate on publicly available platforms popular with youth, including Roblox, Discord, Minecraft, Twitch, Telegram and Steam, according to the RCMP.
Members engage in criminal activity worldwide, “seeking to destroy civilized society through violence and chaos,” according to the government.
“764 members view sexual, psychological, and physical violence as entertainment, a way to achieve status and notoriety in-group, and ideological labour to erode social norms.”
The Canadian government shared previous incidents involving the group, including a February 2024 case in which a 14-year-old Albertan was charged with multiple offences including child pornography and explosives-related crimes.
Beyond Canada, a minor linked to 764 attacked a 55-year-old woman with a knife in Sweden in January 2025, uploading a video of the attack to social media from a 764-linked account.
Also in January 2025, a teen in the U.K. pled guilty to encouraging suicide, possessing a terrorism manual and possessing child sexual abuse material.
The FBI has issued warnings across the U.S. about the group, saying members are targeting and exploiting children and other vulnerable individuals.
The agency warned that members connect online through messaging apps, social media and gaming platforms, then manipulate or coerce individuals into producing or sharing graphic content, child sexual abuse material or engage in acts of animal cruelty, self-harm or violence.
This case is the latest Canadian investigation linked to the 764 network. Earlier this year, a Quebec City man was arrested in connection with the group, while an Edmonton teenager was arrested on similar charges in May 2025.
With files from Calgary Herald and CityNews