The federal sentence: prison time, restitution, and lifetime supervision
A San Antonio man who led 8884, an offshoot of the violent collective known as 764, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison Wednesday, the Justice Department said. Alexis Aldair Chavez, 19, who also used the names “Zack” and “Zack8884,” was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and to serve lifetime supervised release after completing his term. Chavez had pleaded guilty in December 2025 to multiple crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children and had been detained without bail since his arrest in October 2024.
Crimes detailed in the indictment
The indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas lays out a string of coercion, blackmail and abuse occurring mainly in late 2023. Prosecutors say Chavez and co-conspirators coerced a girl to cut her tongue, and to torture and kill a cat on a live video call. That same month, the indictment alleges, Chavez groomed and extorted several other girls to commit self-harm and to degrade themselves on camera.
Court records say Chavez attempted to coerce one girl to commit suicide and blackmailed another into self-mutilation, animal torture and illicit content production. Prosecutors further allege Chavez then used some victims to coerce other girls to degrade themselves on camera and to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM). He faced statutory exposure of up to 60 years on counts tied to racketeering, distribution and possession of CSAM prior to sentencing.
764, its offshoots, and the 'Com' network
According to prosecutors, Chavez began associating with 764 as a child in 2022 when a co-conspirator introduced him to 7997, one of many 764 offshoots affiliated with the “Com.” The Justice Department describes the larger network as a sprawling, nihilistic constellation of thousands of people, typically between 11 and 25 years old, that seeks to foster social unrest by destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of children and other vulnerable people.
Chavez led 8884, identified by prosecutors as an offshoot; his conviction and sentence follow a period of intensified law enforcement action against 764 and related groups. The story notes that Bradley Chance Cadenhed, who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in 2021, was arrested later that year and received an 80-year sentence in 2023.
Law enforcement statements and expert perspective
Officials from the Justice Department and the FBI framed the sentence as part of a broader effort to identify and prosecute criminality linked to violent online networks. John A. Eisenberg called these organizations “nihilistic violent extremist groups” that “target children as part of their broader mission to spread terror.” Justin R. Simmons, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, urged parental vigilance: “Parents need to know what their children are doing online and must stay engaged, ask difficult questions, and not fall into the trap of believing their child is ‘just playing games’ or ‘just talking with their friends.’”
FBI officials also issued direct statements. Coult Markovsky, acting assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said, “Nothing is more abhorrent than those who prey on children and other vulnerable members of our society and this defendant will pay a steep price for doing just that.” Daniel Faith, special agent in charge of the FBI San Antonio field office, added that the sentence “demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering resolve to identify, hunt down, investigate, and prosecute criminals like Chavez who prey on children through violent online networks, including 764,” and urged parents to stay engaged in their children’s online lives.
Allison Nixon, chief research officer at Unit 221B, told CyberScoop the sentence is appropriate despite the offender’s youth, saying a “certain personality profile is highly predictive of who will risk a prison sentence like this: an obsession with maximizing harm.” Nixon warned of high reoffense risk among those she described as “harm-obsessed” and criticized jurisdictions that allow suspected members to return home unsupervised. “True rehabilitation is the best outcome, but no one knows how,” she added.
Recent enforcement and named arrests
Chavez’s case followed other arrests and enforcement actions targeting alleged 764 leaders and members. When the FBI executed a search warrant at Chavez’s residence in July 2024, prosecutors said he came out the backdoor and threw his phone over a neighbor’s fence in an attempt to hide evidence. The reporting lists several alleged 764-affiliated individuals arrested since 2025, including Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal, Baron Cain Martin, Tony Christopher Long, Erik Lee Madison, Zachary Sweeney and Aaron Corey.
The sentence hands a multi-decade prison term to a leader of a small, brutal offshoot of a larger online network. Prosecutors and investigators framed the case as an example of how extremist online collectives can weaponize coercion and abuse against children; experts cited in the record warn that lengthy sentences may be necessary given high reoffense risk and the difficulty of supervising offenders who return to permissive environments. As the Justice Department’s National Security Division vows to continue using “every resource at its disposal” to pursue 764-linked criminality, the case leaves open challenging questions about prevention, rehabilitation and supervision when harms are inflicted through anonymous, cross-jurisdictional online networks.
