Content warning: This article contains mention of sexual exploitation, abuse and self-harm.
The bravery of one student coming forward to the police led to a multi-state, international investigation into a sexual predator ring run by neo-nazis working to build a satanic following. From November 2020 to January 2025, the Iowa State University Police Department uncovered the ring through the leadership and tenacity of Chief Michael Newton and Officer Kami Feld.
In November 2022, a freshman student reported to the ISUPD that beginning at age 16, she met an individual online who sexually exploited her. She grew concerned about the virtual relationship and disconnected from the perpetrator initially.
“Fast forward to November of 2020, when she’s a freshman arriving at Iowa State and all of a sudden is being victimized again by this individual, threatening to share photos and other things,” Newton said.
The patrol officer began investigative work, including interviewing the victim on several occasions and issuing subpoenas. The ISUPD subpoenaed electronic service providers, for example, Google, PayPal, Venmo, Instagram and Facebook. After receiving the results of the subpoena, the primary investigating officer approached Feld.
“One of them [subpoenas] came back with four different locations for their IP activity,” Feld said. “There was Hawaii, there was some in Oregon, California, etc.”
From there, Feld issued a search warrant in addition to a subpoena.
“As I was looking through it, it was an online banking application… so I knew there had to be some sort of legitimate data,” Feld said. “This person, our suspect, had done well to cover their tracks by using fake names, fake birthdays and fake phone numbers.”
Then, Feld looked into the address on the digital wallet application: Four Goldfield Road in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“That address doesn’t exist,” Feld said. “I combed through every road on the island of Ohau; there is no such thing as Goldfield Road.”
On a Google search, the address pulled up webpages under four Goldfield Road, a fake phone number and “youremail.com.” At this point, Feld contacted the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The team didn’t have the resources to assist but did offer guidance.
“It was ultimately, I want to say, the third round of search warrants for a digital wallet application when I got a real name,” Feld said. “He had messed up. He was using his legitimate name and monetary funds to fund those fake digital wallet applications. His name is Clint Borge from Pahoa, Hawaii.”
Then, Feld met with ICAC in Des Moines and got connected with the ICAC Task Force in Hawaii. The commander of ICAC in Hawaii put out “feelers,” and 13 days later, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) picked up the case.
Next, Feld went through the process of deconfliction to ascertain if other agencies were conducting related investigations. This resulted in a hit in Los Angeles. Feld explained that the LA officers were investigating child self-harm exploitation.
“They had identified a group, CVLT, pronounced cult, that was victimizing and preying upon juveniles to not only produce child sex abuse material, but to produce self-harm material,” Feld said. “The goal of this group was to produce a Satanist following.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the CVLT espouses “neo-Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles.” More information regarding the activity of the CVLT can be located on the U.S. Department of Justice webpage.
Special Agent Theo Cushing, the primary agent out of L.A., explained to Feld that officers identified the leader, Rohan Sandeep Rane, a 28-year-old currently in custody in France. The L.A. team was aware of three of the four core leaders of the group.
“They had been working to identify the fourth, but they only had his Discord username ‘Whoops,’” Feld said. “In entering the IP addresses that I had obtained, we gave them the identity of their fourth suspect.”
The four core members were identified as: Colin John Thomas Walker, a 23-year-old from Bridgeton, New Jersey; Borge, a 41-year-old; Kaleb Christopher Merritt, a 24-year-old from Spring, Texas; and the leader, Rane, in France.
In August of 2021, Feld travelled to Hawaii. Once there, she, alongside the team based in Hawaii, issued a search warrant on Borges’ home.
“We knew from his internet patterns and habits that he was a night owl,” Feld said. “He was doing a lot of his victimization at night and would go to bed about 4 in the morning. So, it was a thoughtful thing to hit the house at 5 a.m.”
Police knew Borge didn’t have full-time employment and previously worked as a care provider for his grandparents before their death.
“It was his grandparents’ home that they left to him, and he left his grandparents’ bedroom like they had still been living there,” Feld said.
Officers interviewed Borge in his grandparents’ bedroom. Police seized eight terabytes of electronic evidence from Borges’ desktop alone. One terabyte holds 17,000 hours of audio or music. From 2021 to 2024, the evidence went through forensic analysis.
“One of the things that was pretty eye-opening for me is not only are we combing through the data in which they’re corresponding and victimizing people,” Feld said. “But then we’re combing through the data, where they’re bragging about it to the other group members. That was the most grotesque of it, was the bragging.”
Through the investigative process, Feld identified one victim in Iowa and a victim as young as 11 years old living in Florida.
“I contacted the ICAC Task Force Officer in the jurisdiction of the 11-year-old girl and said, I am wondering can you go make contact with Mom and her,” Feld said.
The perpetrators were making contact with victims through online gaming platforms.
“For this 11-year-old girl victim in Florida, they knew her full name, her parents’ name, her home address, where she went to school, what type of school activities she participated in, her grandparents’ names, her uncles’ names and the address of the school,” Feld said.
This victim didn’t comply with some threats made by the perpetrators.
“Because they had already victimized her, they created a collage of photos … of not only her and her family but her younger siblings,” Feld said. “Full nudity, partial nudity, engaged in solo sex acts and then posted this online with all of her personal information.”
A moment of absolute silence fell on the room as audience members took in this information.
Finally, in January 2025, the police issued an indictment for Borge and Walker. Borge and Walker pled guilty and will face sentencing in January 2027. With a guilty plea of child sexual exploitation enterprise, the men will face a sentence of a minimum of 20 years in prison and up to a statutory life in prison. Merritt is currently serving a 50-year sentence for child exploitation in Virginia. Rane remains in the custody of France.
In total, the Iowa State University Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Los Angeles Police Department, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office (Virginia), Police Nationale (France), the National Crime Agency (United Kingdom), the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and EUROPOL all played a role in investigating the case.
“I am going to emphasize, it took the courage of one very strong individual to come forward,” Newton said. “One of the things that’s important to me as a leader is supporting our students, faculty and staff. Making sure that if they are victims, that we’re gonna follow that case through to the end.”
