Virginia Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Exploiting Minors

According to court documents, Malachi Morgan Thomas used a Snapchat account he had hacked and stolen from a minor to coerce approximately 41 girls ages 12 to 17 into creating sexually explicit material.

Thomas pleaded guilty April 2 to one count of production of child sexual abuse material and one count of possession.

Prosecutors said Thomas directed the girls to send him explicit material and ordered them to engage in sexually explicit conduct during live video calls. He told victims he led a criminal organization and promised they would be safe if they obeyed him.

To force compliance, Thomas threatened to hack their accounts or harm them and their family members, according to court documents. He knew several victims had anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions and that many had previously experienced sexual abuse. At least one victim was in foster care.

Federal authorities said Thomas went to a victim’s home June 7, 2020, assaulted the child and recorded the attack. Police later found the video on one of his phones after seizing the device while investigating an altercation.

On July 9, 2020, Thomas went to a Virginia shopping mall to meet another victim he had exploited on Snapchat, the release said. The girl’s father had learned of Thomas’ actions and went to the mall instead. Police seized Thomas’ phone after responding.

Fairfax County police arrested Thomas on Oct. 1, 2020, on rape and sodomy charges involving two minors. The Justice Department release did not state the outcome of those charges.

With assistance from Prince William County police, Fairfax investigators searched Thomas’ Woodbridge residence and found a second phone containing dozens of child sexual abuse images and videos. The files included recordings investigators identified as sexual assaults of two Fairfax County victims.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said Thomas used hacked accounts, threats of harm, psychological manipulation and physical assaults to exploit the girls. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia called his pursuit of victims “reprehensible and unrelenting.”

The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case. Trial Attorney Alicia A. Bove of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Halper are prosecuting it.

The prosecution was brought under Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative launched in 2006 to coordinate federal, state and local efforts against child sexual exploitation. Court documents are listed under case No. 1:25-cr-327.