Lake Charles Resident and Participant in Nihilistic Violent Extremist Group Indicted for Stalking, Threatening, and “Swatting” a Minor and Her Family and for Possessing Child[...]

LAFAYETTE- On February 18, 2026, a federal grand jury in Lafayette returned two indictments against CARTER MILES LEDOUX, a 19-year-old Lake Charles resident. One indictment charges LEDOUX with stalking, threatening, and "swatting" a minor girl and her family after the girl made a social media post that indicated support for interracial relationships, and for conspiring with members of his Nihilistic Violent Extremist ("NVE") group to do the same. LEDOUX was separately indicted for possessing child pornography after a search of his smartphone showed him to possess child sexual abuse materials that included toddlers being sexually abused.

"NVE groups are a serious threat to our communities-rural and urban alike-and prey upon our most vulnerable people-particularly young girls-to commit their evil acts," said United States Attorney Zachary A. Keller. "Stamping out these groups lies at the heart of the Department of Justice's commitment to make our communities safe, and our Office looks forward to achieving justice for the victim in this case and to showing those who would perpetrate similar acts that the only place in society for them is behind bars."

"The FBI will not abide threats to children," said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI's New Orleans Field Office. "Nihilistic Violent Extremists terrorize families every day and those perpetrators should know that we are working diligently with our partners to find, investigate, and prosecute them."

According to court documents, NVE groups engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing chaos, destruction, and social instability, and a subset of NVE individuals and groups focus on racially motivated violence. Acting with other members of one of these NVE groups, LEDOUX targeted a minor girl in response to her posting in support of interracial relationships by (1) finding the contact and location information for the minor girl and her parents, (2) using anonymizing internet services to send threatening text messages to the girl's family, (3) using those same anonymizing internet services to "swat" her family's home by placing a hoax phone call to law enforcement claiming, among other things, that the caller supposedly located at the minor girl's home had pipe bombs and would kill any officer who responded to the call, and (4) making publicly available social media posts glorifying the attack. After LEDOUX's arrest, a search of his smartphone revealed child sexual abuse materials that included depictions of the sexual abuse of toddlers.

U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller for the Western District of Louisiana made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Saint Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office investigated this case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Johnson with assistance from Legal Assistant Emily Lanphier.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdla.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana at www.lawd.uscourts.govLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. or at https://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/cmecf-pacerLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link.. The case numbers for these matters are 26-cr-00068 and 26-cr-00069.

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