---
category: Organizations
created: 2026-05-21
end: 2021
location: Online (United States)
start: 2020
summary: Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord
  from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that
  directly informed the founding of 764.
tags:
- GreggyCult
- ChildExploitation
- NVE
- Online
- USA
updated: 2026-05-21
---

[Greggy's Cult](/organizations/greggys-cult/) (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing CSAM (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the [764 Network](/organizations/764-network/), which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. NCITE (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) tracked 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across Greggy's Cult, [CVLT](/organizations/cvlt/), and 764 as of December 2025, treating the three as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.[^1]

### 764 Founding Lineage

[Bradley Cadenhead](/people/bradley-chance-cadenhead/), who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside [CVLT](/organizations/cvlt/).

[Rumaldo Valdez](/people/rumaldo-valdez/), a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the Eastern District of New York alongside four co-defendants including [Camden Rodriguez](/people/camden-rodriguez/), [Zachary Dosch](/people/zachary-dosch/), [David Brilhante](/people/david-brilhante/), and [Hector Bermudez](/people/hector-bermudez/).[^2]

[^1]: NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
[^2]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704