Satan, Church Scandals and Beyond

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Disbelief and ridicule, this is the fear promoted by the devil according to Father Gary Thomas as it relates to sexual abuse victims, but it seems that secrecy is the devil's best ally.

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How far do the tentacles of satanic groups go?

Father Gary Thomas has for many years been the exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, California. He was mentored in Rome by Father Carmine De Filippis. The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist (2009), and the film The Rite based on the book included Father Thomas and his training in Rome.

Despite the belief that demonic possession is visited only on the unfortunate who have strayed from belief in God, or intentionally became involved in satanism, the very Church dedicated to protecting the vulnerable has in some instances chosen to hide evil among its own clergy.

The most pernicious of these secrets, is the child abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent decades. However prior to the disclosure of priests that were shuttled from parish to parish in order to hide their crimes, many clergy and parishioners knew or suspected that children were being targeted by pedophiles. The reason this went on for so long was the victim's fear that no one would believe them. This fear also silenced witnesses who suspected or knew that children were being abused.

Father Thomas attributes this apprehension to the workings of the devil. Those who should have moved against these individuals, were apathetic or chose not to believe.

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Authorities also found a “blood covenant,” an O9A drawing of a hooded figure surrounded by the group’s symbols and smeared with what appears to be blood, the filings state.

From 2016 to 2018 six Pennsylvania dioceses were the subject of a months-long investigation by the state’s attorney general into sexual abuse claims, many of which went back decades. 

Father Thomas said: "Convincing people that no one will believe them is what satan says when something is so outside the bounds of what is reasonable as to be unbelievable. Reading the accounts of what those children in Pennsylvania went through [as detailed in the Grand Jury Report] we wonder, how could this happen? It’s other-worldly—outside what people thought was possible — that’s what makes it demonic."

​However it's not only religious institutions who seem to be under the sway of the devil.

In 2021, Angel Almeida, 23, was arrested on gun possession charges, however he owned more than guns. The detention memo detailed the following: "the investigation has revealed that the defendant posted numerous pictures of himself in possession of the firearm, has association with a violent extremist organization, and also posted materials indicative of an interest in violence toward children and animals." In 2022, he was also charged with child exploitation and enticement of minors.

Despite repeated violent behavior in the court room, Almeida was found fit to stand trial. He had attacked a justice department staffer in the audience, and his own court-appointed counsel on separate occasions. As of 2023 he's had gone through four court-appointed counsel. 

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Mugshot of Kyle Spitze c.Feb.2024 (Source-Laurel County Correctional Center)

The FBI's investigation came across "764", a sinister online group linked to a satanic pedophile extortion cult, which is believed to be an offshoot of the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), a worldwide satanist group.

The cult "764" was named for part of the zip code of a Texas boy who founded it in 2021 at the age of 15. The town is Stephenville, Texas, his name is Bradley Cadenhead. 

In 2016, when he was 10 years old his family life started to unravel. He endured bullying in middle school, and dropped out of high school. From these origins a notorious predator was born. On Discord he cultivated a domineering online persona that attracted sadists who all shared the goal of preying on vulnerable children.

He was arrested in August 2021 and pleaded guilty in March 2023 to multiple felony counts related to child pornography, including possession and promotion of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), as well as orchestrating the exploitation of minors through online coercion. Cadenhead was sentenced to an 80-year prison term and is currently incarcerated at the Estelle Unit in East Texas, with a projected release date not available and a parole eligibility date set for March 22, 2025.

The FBI issued a public notice warning of 764’s activities, which include deliberately targeting minors on messaging platforms to "extort them into recording or live-streaming acts of self-harm and producing child sexual abuse material." They use threats, blackmail and manipulation and operate on different platforms such as Roblox, Discord, Twitch, Soundcloud and Telegram.

Other subgroups that target minors  have evolved using different names such as: "676, CVLT, Court, Kaskar, Harm Nation, Leak Society, and H3ll". 

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Flag of the O9A

The O9A is a satanic left hand path which originated in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, just like the the Process Church of the Final Judgement. A woman previously involved in a secretive pre-Christian tradition, who lived in the Marches of Western England was the founder. According to the account, in 1973, Anton Long joined the group and became the grand master. Several who have studied the group believe "Anton Long" was an alias used by David Myatt a British neo-nazi. During the 70s, Myatt wrote about the Order's ideas.

The group came to prominence during the 1980s, and branched out to different countries across the world, especially after the  advent of the Internet. It is a mish-mash of neo-nazi ideology, traditional satanism, neo-pagan and hermetic beliefs and rituals.

Its aim is to establish e militaristic new social order, so that galactic civilization to form sot he Milky Way can be colonized. Its spiritual path  advocates for social taboos to be broken. This can be done by committing crimes, embracing political extremism and violence, including human sacrifice. Ut dies bit adhere to any central authority or structure. The members of its network are known as the "kollective"

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Gathering of satanists, masked of course

Months after Almeida's arrest, in February, 2024, court documents confirmed that Kyle Spitze was a member of 764, a satanic pedophile cult. He was charged with sexual exploitation of children.

Prior to his arrest, a video went viral of a Tennessee man shooting at Spitze, who was wounded in the ear. The man was his mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend committed suicide after a standoff with police. His mother was later found dead in a hotel room.

Spitze's biological father said his son became involved with satanic cults 6 years before when his parents were separating. He was 18, and groomed by woman who went by the name of "Tara" who was 20 years older than him. She convinced Kyle Spitze to move to Washington, where the grooming continued. Michael Spitze believes his ex-wife died from a heroin overdose, and Kyle had nothing to do with her death. 

Kyle Spitze operated under the name "Criminal" on Discord and Telegram. Authorities found a 12-year-old victim who said Spitze demanded porn and self-harm images and videos of her at different times.

Spitze is scheduled to go to trial in July, 2025.

Prior to this Kalana Limkin, Richard "Rabid" Densmore, and a Canadian 14-year-old were arrested, with a range of charges including child pornography, sexual extortion, trafficking, animal cruelty, self-harm of minors and distribution of child pornography featuring self harm.

All of them were members of satanic cults.

The DOJ detailed in a motion to keep Kalana Limkin imprisoned the following: "O9A embraces terrorism, including radical Islamic jihadist ideology and the violent tactics of jihadist groups, such as ISIS and al Qaeda, as a means to accelerate the decline of Western society."

​So if evil individuals are part of groups that blatantly post their beliefs online, how much more sinister are those that operate from the shadows due to their public or private personas. Their intentions are always corruption, deceit is their vehicle.

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Nikita Casap c.2025

In April, 2025 Nikita Casap faced murder charges for killing his mother and stepfather. He shot them on February 11, and lived inside their Wisconsin home with the bodies for two weeks, until a welfare check was conducted since he had been absent from school for so many days. Family members also contacted authorities since they had not heard from his parents.

Nikita spent his time, shoveling snow to maintain the appearance of normalcy at  the house, while ransacking his parent's jewelry and money. He's also facing charges of hiding a corpse, use of weapons of mass destruction and presidential assassination.

No one answered the door and a sheriff's deputy found Tatiana Casap dead from gunshot wounds and covered in blankets. Her husband Donald Mayer was also shot to death and covered with a blanket. They found a receipt for a .357 magnum revolver, but no gun.

Nikita's cellular phone was pinged and found to be at a truck stop in Walcott, Iowa. He was traveling with the family dog in their Black VW Atlas SUV.

The WaKeeney Kansas Police Department stopped the vehicle and arrested the 17-year-old, after it was reported stolen.

While searching Nikita's phone authorities found material related to The Order of Nine Angles, a "satanic occult group created in the early 1970s by Anton Long, thought to be a pseudonym for British neo-Nazi David Myatt." The group is also referred to as 09A. Nikita was using the usernames of "@accelerationist" and "Awoken". Among other materials he had a manifesto about assassinating Trump, making bombs, and carrying out terrorist attacks. He also had images and messages on using a drone attack and making one from a kit.

A classmate told police that in March, 2025 Nikita had mentioned plans of killing his parents, but he didn't have a gun.

Nikita and his mother immigrated from Moldova a country that lies between Romania and Ukraine. It's not clear when the pair came to the the United States, but his mother Tatiana, 35, married Donald Mayer, 51, nine years ago. Up until this incident the family appeared normal, and Nikita had perfect attendance and told others he had a good childhood.

​It's expected he will go to trial in early 2026.

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764 insignia

In July, 2025, Pasco Sheriff's office (Florida) arrested  a "13-year-old who was charged with possessing child pornography and bestiality material after he joined an 'online cult' that allegedly targets minors for abuse, according to a local sheriff."

He was charnged with 4 felonies. Police received a tip about a group on Discord that adheres to "satanic and neo-nazi ideology". This same group has been linked to similar cases in the United States.

In May, 2025 the FBI arrested Leanoidis Varagiannis a.k.a War, 21, and Prasan Nepal a.k.a. Trippy, 20.  Varagiannis a US citizen was arrested in Greece and Nepal was arrested in North Carolina. They were charged with operating an international child exploitation enterprise. They coordinated the group 764 and directed a subgroup 764 Inferno. The group is described as "nihilistic violent extremist (NVE)".

The affidavit read: “The 764 network’s accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government.” The group prowl popular platforms and lure minors into groups where they incite to self- harm, hurt their pets and kill themselves. 764 has been influenced by the Order of Nine Angles (09A).

Sheriff Chris Nocco describes them as an online cult. “They place no value on human life. They use Satanic and neo-Nazi ideology. They idolize school shooters.”

The 13-year-old has been involved in the group since he was 12, and among the evidence found were instructions for "committing mass murder, other violent attacks, building bombs and then concealing evidence."

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Robert Westman shot and killed two students at Annunciation Catholic School c.August 2025

In August, 2025 Robert (a.k.a. Robin) Westman, 23, opened fire at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. School had started one week ago and the students were attending Mass. Two children, ages 8 and 10 were killed; seventeen others were injured. 

There are social media posts indicating that Westman was aligned with the satanic groups 764 and Angles 9 (O9A), even though this has not been officially confirmed.

Westman was a trans individual who in his manifesto stated he was tired of being trans, and appeared to have suicidal ideations. He filmed several of his firearms and described the planning undertaken of when and where to complete the attack. He fired 116 rifle rounds at children who he "wanted to watch suffer".

He wrote: "I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man. I really like my outfit. I look pretty, smart, and modest. I think I want to wear something like this for my shooting."

He graduated from 8th grade at this school in 2017. His mother Mary Grace Westman, also worked as a secretary at the school until retiring in 2021.

Records show that in 2018 a welfare check involving a juvenile was done at the Westman family home. The report described a "medical mental health" call. It's been confirmed Robert Westman was the juvenile on the welfare check.

Investigators said that Westman had told others that he had "brainwashed" himself into that (trans) identity.

According to police records Westman had recently gone through a breakup with a romantic partner and was staying with a friend in the days leading up to the shooting.

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Samantha "Samuel" Hervey, left, with her husband, Usama Hussain (Source-WaPo)

In October, 2025, German authorities charged a man accused of grooming a 13-year-old girl to hang herself in Washington State on behalf of the satanic 764 cult group. 

The defendant's name is Shahriar (due to German law only his first name has been released). His online name was "White Tiger". He is being charged with hundreds of crimes besides the teen's murder. He ran an online campaign of abuse and sexual predation that victimized more than 30 children.

Piper Jay Taylor's body was found in Gig Harbor in January, 2022. She hung herself with an extension cord on a black chain link fence in a grocery store parking lot. Near her body, an iPhone was propped in order to stream her death, which allowed Instagram online users to watch. 

These users sent her messages while her parents slept encouraging her to hang herself. They tried to convince her to do it nude, saying, "Take your clothes off, it's hotter."

The 764 group is known to target children in order to claim them as trophies, and some see their actions as weeding out society's weakest.

The local police were stumped and couldn't figure who and why someone would encourage the girl to such an act. 

The FBI took up the case, which led them to forums where groups of online predators groom vulnerable children.

Authorities struggled to identify laws that are broken, and also jurisdictions with different laws. These predators live all over the world.

The FBI agents originally assigned to the case later encountered "brutality and bureaucratic hurdles in the case". One of them described he had never experienced this in his 16 year career at the FBI.

Piper Taylor told her parents she was a transgender boy at age ten, and later became anorexic and depressed during the COVID pandemic. She also started to cut herself. Around this time she started using her middle name of Jay.

During the investigation the FBI caught a break when they found one of the email addresses used by White Tiger was linked to an address in Hamburg, Germany.  The property was a modern, three-story house where a medical student born in Iran lived. He had immigrated to Germany with his parents. 

The FBI was able to obtain subpoenas to files he stored online. They found videos and chats mostly with children and teens. One photo showed him cross dressing in women's clothes.

He was described as a "tall, thin, goateed youth, he often wooed mentally ill girls with love and attention on Discord, Instagram and Telegram, then allegedly blackmailed them with the photos and videos they sent him."

The FBI flew to Germany and gave the authorities all the information and evidence they had garnered in their investigation of White Tiger. It would take them 3 1/2 years to arrest Shahriar. German officials said much of the violence found on his files were to "satisfy sexual urges" and "to fulfill his perverse power fantasies."

Two months after Jay’s death, according to the German investigators, Shahriar nearly persuaded a 15-year-old girl in Canada to kill herself with a knife. It's unknown if other victims of White Tiger killed themselves during the 3 1/2 years it took for the German police to arrest him.

The suicide of Daniel P. McCoy, 29, from Florida which occurred in 2022 was related to 764.

In November, 2021, Samuel Hervey (born Samantha Hervey), 25, committed suicide and like Piper Taylor streamed her own death. The live video showed when she emptied a bottle full of gasoline over her head and lit a flame. She did this while traveling to the country of Kyrgyzstan. More then two dozen people watched in a private chat room on Discord. One of these was a 15-year-old girl who lives in Eastern Europe. She had urged Hervey in private messages to take her life on camera.

The suicide was tracked to the "764" satanic cult.

The girl who persuaded Hervey to kill herself goes under the screen name of "Fmlk". Four months after Hervey's death she lured a teenage girl to broadcast her suicide in March, 2022.

Neither the FBI nor Discord would say how many suicides have been connected to the platform or the group. 

In August, 2021, Hervey was stranded in Kyrgyzstan. She had been detained by authorities due to COVID restrictions as she traveled from her home state of Minnesota to India. She spent weeks there and was running out of money.

Hervey was born female, and after turning 18 started hormone therapy and changed her name to Samuel. She married Usama Hussain another college student. During the COVID pandemic her mental health deteriorated. She refused to take her medications. It ended the relationship.

In late 2020, she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and was released in May 2021. Hervey cut off contact with her family. She took the trip to India and told friends she was paying for it with government stimulus checks. She was an active user on Discord, and while trying to find help, Fmlk befriended her and convinced her to make a horrific decision.

Fmlk who is already 18, was eventually questioned by police about Hervey’s suicide, because the recordings were on a phone that was seized. The police told her parents to get her a psychological evaluation. She was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, depression and anxiety, and started therapy twice a week. She claims she has left the online cult.

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Jose Pagan Jr was arrest by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 14-year-old on terrorism and child pornography charges. c Jan. 2026

In January, 2026 Jose Pagan, Jr, 14, from Wimauma, Florida was arrested and charged with "Terrorism-related (written/electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism), plus multiple counts of child pornography possession/transmission/solicitation (involving 14 graphic images of infant/toddler abuse)."

The investigation started after a tip came in about child exploitation linked to his home IP address.

Not only was explicit material recovered, but evidence of chatroom activity connected to violent ideologies. The group calling itself the Temple of Love (part of 764 network) promotes violence as "spiritual enlightenment".

Pagan discussed carrying out a mass shooting at a local church.

Evidence Recovered:

• Multiple firearms and ammunition (one firearm was found on his father’s nightstand; the rest were locked in a safe)
• 14 graphic images depicting the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers
• Electronic devices containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• Photos of Pagan wearing a "No Lives Matter" (NLM) shirt ​

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