AMES, Iowa – It was November of 2020 when Iowa State University Police received the call. It was from a student who reported she was being blackmailed by a man she met online in 2018.
That call would lead investigators down a long and often disturbing path that more than four years later has finally resulted in federal indictments for a ring of sexual predators accused of preying on young women – many of them minors – from around the world.
ISU investigators never could have predicted this outcome. In fact, months after that initial call it appeared the case might have hit a dead end until Officer Kami Feld dug a little deeper into a business address included in the data provided in response to an investigative subpoena from an online payment company.
The address helped unravel other clues and evidence that Feld and a team of investigators patiently pieced together in hopes of bringing justice for the numerous victims identified. Their work also provided critical details in a separate, but connected, Homeland Security case. It took a tremendous team effort and dedication to get to this point, but Feld says the credit in this case goes to the single Iowa State student who had the courage to come forward.
A popular business address that didn’t exist
A couple months after the initial call, the case was referred to Iowa State University Police’s investigative unit. Officer Feld was asked to go through the interviews and records from the subpoenas to look for any unexplored avenues.
In reviewing the evidence from the subpoenas, an address – 4 Goldfield Road – connected to an online payment account caught Feld’s attention. She typed the address into Google and the search results raised even more suspicions. Feld found several questionable businesses associated with the address, but not a single map or record to verify that the address actually existed.
“That was enough for me to know I had to keep digging. This wasn’t a dead end,” Feld said.
It was at that point that Feld knew she needed more resources. She reported the case to Iowa’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force – part of a national network representing more than 5,400 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Feld and her colleagues on the task force identified other avenues to pursue to build their case, including several search warrants seeking more detailed information from the online account in question and other online service providers.
Messages were a red flag
Through their interviews with the student, investigators learned the student was a minor when she sent a series of photos, in exchange for money, to a man she met on a popular messaging app. Then as a first-year student at Iowa State, she started receiving messages from the man threatening to expose the photos and her personal information if she did not comply with his demands.
Feld says the man never demanded money. He was more interested in exerting power and control over the student and, as Feld would learn, several other young women he threatened to expose if they did not meet his demands.
The student told police she received payment for the photos through an online account. In combing through the data provided from the subpoena, Feld uncovered several notes attached to the transactions the man sent to other young women. The notes were a red flag for Feld.
“There were several derogatory comments demanding obedience,” Feld said. “The totality of the messages showed how aggressive and demanding he was and how he initially groomed the victims to gain their trust.”
Pieces in a giant puzzle
It took months of reviewing subpoenaed information from several online service providers for Feld to connect the dots between internet providers, email addresses, social media platforms and online banking accounts. Her patience and persistence eventually paid off, and Feld was able to identify a suspect.
The suspect’s banking records detailed purchases for file-sharing software that Feld says is often used for illegal movie downloads and child sex abuse materials, as well as services to disguise or make it nearly impossible to track someone’s internet activity.
“It was like laying out the pieces of a giant puzzle and putting them all together,” Feld said. “Fortunately, he made a few errors initially that allowed us to trace it back to him.”
As more pieces of the puzzle started to come together, Feld and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force discovered some evidence in the case was connected to an active Homeland Security investigation. The discovery was crucial for Homeland Security investigators, who joined the case in June 2021, as they only had an IP address and had not yet identified the suspect. Feld’s work helped them tie that IP address to Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa, Hawaii.
In August 2021, Feld flew to Hawaii as part of a team that interviewed Borge and executed a search warrant on the house where he was living. Feld says the team gathered mountains of forensic data and numerous computers during the search.
During the interview, Feld says investigators were successful in getting several confessions. Still, it took months to go through all the evidence, identify victims and finally reach the point where they could file charges.
In late January, the Department of Justice charged Borge with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. Borge was one of four members of an online neo-Nazi group that were indicted for grooming and coercing minors to produce child sexual abuse material and images of self-harm.
One student’s courage
It’s unlikely that Feld will ever work another case quite like this one. The investigation identified more than 30 victims – some as young as 11 years old – and provided evidence for Homeland Security to build its case against CVLT, the online group that espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles.
Feld said these online crimes exist in “a dark and twisted space,” but she is thankful she could use her skill set in this case to get results. Above all, she is thankful for the Iowa State student who had the courage to come forward, report a crime and ask police for help.
“I have been in awe of her from the minute I became a part of this investigation,” Feld said. “When I think about what this case grew to become – she was the linchpin. She had the courage and bravery to say this is not OK.”
Michael Newton, associate vice president for public safety and chief of police at Iowa State, commended Feld for her determination in helping solve this case. Equally as important is the trust that Feld built with the student who provided valuable evidence for investigators.
“Our team is here to keep campus safe, and we want students and all members of the Iowa State community to reach out to us when they need help,” Newton said. “These are challenging cases, but our team is here to provide support, and we will investigate to the fullest extent.”
In addition to Iowa State University Police, Homeland Security Investigations, the Los Angeles Police Department, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, Henry County Sheriff’s Office (Virginia), Police Nationale (France), the National Crime Agency (United Kingdom), the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and EUROPOL are investigating this matter.