Kim Nok-wan (33), who operated a cyber sexual exploitation crime group named 'Vigilante Group' on Telegram and is accused of sexually exploiting 234 men and women, has been indicted while in custody. It was revealed that Kim, who called himself a 'pastor' within the organization, led criminal activities such as producing and distributing sexually explicit materials.   

The Special Investigation Team for Vigilante Group at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Kim Ji-hye, head of the Women and Children's Crime Investigation Department 1) indicted Kim on the 12th on charges of organizing and engaging in criminal activities, producing and distributing sexually explicit materials and illegal filming, coercing the use of illegal filming, and quasi-rape.

The prosecution determined that Kim formed the Vigilante Group in May 2020 and, until January of this year, created sexually exploitative materials or sexually assaulted 234 men and women through blackmail. The number of victims is more than three times the number of victims in the 'Nth Room' case (73 people) in 2019-2020, in which Cho Joo-bin (29) produced and distributed child and adolescent sexually exploitative materials on Telegram.   

According to the prosecution, he approached them by finding out the personal information of sex offenders he had identified through Telegram, women who posted obscene photos on social media, and men who requested the production of false videos of acquaintances, along with members of the Vigilante Group.

Through this method, Kim, along with members of the Vigilante Group, produced 1,090 sexually exploitative materials of 49 underage victims, distributed sexually exploitative materials of 36 people, coerced 10 adult victims to take 286 nude photos, and distributed illegal filming materials of 7 people.

He also blackmailed 46 victims by threatening to distribute obscene photos and personal information on social media, received letters of apology, student ID photos, and nude photos from them, and used them as bait to quasi-rape three male victims and even filmed them.

In addition, Kim continued to commit solo crimes, such as raping 9 children and adolescents while impersonating an 'Off-Man' after threatening that he would distribute nude photos if he did not have sexual relations with the man he had solicited, and injuring 3 of them.

He is also accused of filming or possessing the process of raping the victims 362 times and extorting money from them under the pretext of this.

Meanwhile, the prosecution announced that it has prepared and implemented measures to support the 234 victims of the Vigilante Group, such as ▲support for physical and mental recovery, ▲support for deleting illegal videos to prevent secondary damage, and ▲support for the 'right to be forgotten' of victims through name change.

A prosecution official said, "The Vigilante Group Special Investigation Team will do its best to maintain the prosecution so that Kim receives a heavy punishment commensurate with his crime, and will closely cooperate with the police to track down and strictly punish the Vigilante Group's organized crimes that have committed heinous crimes that obliterate the personality of the victims."

[Copyright (c) Global Economic Times. All Rights Reserved.]