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764 Terror Network Member Richard Densmore Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison
The 47-year-old Michigan man, who pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting a child, was highly active in the online criminal network called 764, which the FBI now considers a “tier one” terrorism threat.
In the government’s sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors asked that Densmore receive for the maximum 30-year penalty for his role in creating and leading “online chat rooms where children were encouraged to cut themselves, bleed for members, and publicly engage in depraved sexual acts.” Prior government filings show Densmore ran a 764-adjacent server called “S3wer” where he hosted other 764 members and provided a space to groom underage victims into sexually exploiting themselves and harming themselves for his benefit, often carving his alias into their bodies in a practice common to 764 and its offshoots known as “cut-signing.” According to prosecutors, some victims are driven to commit suicide on camera for the entertainment and status of their exploiters, though no precise number of suicides connected to 764 as been given. “Densmore’s phones, seized during search warrants in this case, contain some of the most heinous images and videos the undersigned counsel has had the misfortune of seeing,” assistant US attorney Adam Townshend wrote in his sentencing memorandum.
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