Buster Hernandez, known online by his alias “Brian Kil,” was arrest in August 2017 and was originally indicted on 26 counts for threatening a teen girl and making several bomb threats. Now, more indictments have been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Indiana that brings that list to 40 charges that could have Hernandez behind bars for the rest of his life. Charges that have been added include production of child pornography; coercion and enticement of a minor; distributing and receiving child pornography; threats to use explosive devices; threats and extortion; threats to kill, kidnap and injure; witness tampering; obstruction of justice; and retaliating against a witness or victim. His crimes have affected the lives of hundreds of minors across the country.
Hernandez typically targeted his victims when they were between the ages of 12 and 15. Investigators say Hernandez started his cyber crimes in 2012. Using fake social media accounts Hernandez contacted minors and said he had sexually explicit videos and photos of them. He then blackmailed the victims asking for more pornographic material. He threatened to expose them publicly if they did not comply. He also made bomb threats to schools, a movie theater, and a shopping center in Indiana. U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler said that Hernandez wanted to be the “worst cyberterrorist who ever lived.”
Hernandez said, “Truth is, I lied about knowing her,” Hernandez wrote on Facebook. “I don’t know [Victim 1]. I’ve never met her. She’s just a girl who was very unlucky and had her cloud storage hacked. From there I dragged her through the mud by spreading lies and misinformation to reach my goals that really had no relation with her whatsoever. I basically used her as an access point to attack an entire town.”
The full extent of Hernandez’s actions may never be known. What is known is that one person was able to terrorize countless children and families across the country from one computer in Bakersfield. We must all be vigilant and take extra steps to keep our accounts and data secure, and parents need to monitor their child’s online activities and let their children know that they can come to them with their problems.
