A 31-year-old California man has admitted to preying on vulnerable young teens with mental-health issues and talking them into hurting themselves or even killing their parents for his sexual pleasure.
Matthew Christian Locher pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Locher groomed his victims to engage in self-mutilation and instructed one victim struggling with an eating disorder to starve herself, ordering her to film herself cutting her body when she disobeyed him,” the U.S. Attorney statement said.
Locher, who used screen names including “The Hat,” “MattheHat,” “HeyThere,” and “Shark,” was arrested in Indiana on Jan. 10 on a California arrest warrant made possible by the testimony of countless victims and their parents. According to the original warrant, he preyed on girls who posted in online support groups and used the platform Discord to contact them.
He then entered into video relationships with them and was often successful in getting them to engage in “masochistic abuse” for what the court heard was his sexual gratification. He tried to talk the girls into becoming his “slave” or “pet,” according to the original arrest warrant.
At least two of his victims, both minors, sent him images after self-harming. One had cut her breast, according to images found on his computer. Another victim, who was suicidal, self-mutilated after he insulted her with racist slurs, according to the arrest document.
He enticed a third victim—a 12-year-old—to set her family home on fire to kill her parents so she could travel to California to engage in sex with him, according to the document, which says he promised her he would “bring her to California, and make her his ‘slave.’”
Locher was extradited to California shortly after his Indiana arrest, and originally pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment charging him with sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, enticement and attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and receipt of child pornography.
Locher, who faces between 15 and 30 years in federal prison, will be sentenced in January. His original indictment with eight charges carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.
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