A 24-year-old Woodbridge man was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in federal prison for coercing more than 40 girls, ages 12 to 17, via a hacked Snapchat account to create and send him child sexual abuse material.
Malachi Morgan Thomas pleaded guilty in April to charges including the sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sex abuse material. He received the maximum sentence.
“Malachi Thomas exploited dozens of girls through threats, coercion, and devastating sexual abuse,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a news release about the sentencing.
“His tactics — leveraging hacked accounts, fear of physical harm, psychological manipulation, and physical assaults — underscore the gravity of his abusive and horrific crimes,” the release said. “This defendant will spend the next four decades in prison and never harm another child.”
According to court documents, from at least March to October of 2020, Thomas used a Snapchat account, which he had previously hacked and stolen from a minor, to coerce approximately 41 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 to engage in sexually explicit conduct, the release said. Thomas directed the victims to create and send him CSAM and ordered the girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct during live video calls.
Thomas told victims he led a criminal organization and that as long as they did what he told them they would be safe. To coerce compliance, Thomas threatened to hack the victims’ accounts or harm them and their family members, according to court records.
“Thomas was aware that several of his victims suffered from anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues and that many had previously been victims of sexual abuse,” the release said. “In at least one instance, Thomas knew that the victim was in foster care.”
On June 6, 2020, Thomas flew to another state and traveled to a victim’s home where he engaged in sexual acts with the girl, which he recorded and saved in his Snapchat account.
Police discovered the abuse of this victim after searching one of Thomas’ cell phones, which they seized while investigating an unrelated altercation, the release said.
On July 9, 2020, Thomas traveled to Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge to meet a victim he exploited on Snapchat, according to prosecutors. The victim’s father had learned of Thomas’ actions and appeared at the mall instead of the victim. Thomas’ phone was seized when police responded to the incident.
On Oct. 1, 2020, Fairfax County police arrested Thomas on charges of rape and sodomy of two minors in Fairfax County. Police then searched Thomas’ home in Woodbridge where investigators located a second phone containing dozens of images and videos of child sexual abuse, including recordings of his sexual assaults of his two victims in Fairfax County, the release said.
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