Jake Thomas Vandermeel used popular gaming and social media platforms to allegedly commit sadistic sextortion

The cruel ‘monster’ who allegedly groomed a ‘vulnerable young girl’ online for almost a year – before threatening to abduct, rape and kill her – is believed to be the first Australian adult arrested for allegedly committing ‘sadistic sextortion’.

Last month The Nightly revealed authorities were on high alert to this emerging crime type, in which extreme online communities are preying on vulnerable kids – as young as 12 years old – to inflict horrific abuse and trauma for “their deranged amusement”.

On Wednesday, the New South Wales Police Sex Crimes Squad charged Jake Thomas Vandermeel for allegedly committing violent and extreme blackmail against a 15-year-old girl who he met online.

The Nightly can reveal that Vandermeel, an unemployed data analyst who graduated from the University of Newcastle with a bachelor of science, allegedly targeted the teenager across multiple gaming, social media and messaging platforms including WhatsApp.

Vandermeel’s early morning arrest this week came after a brave young girl in Queensland contacted Kids Helpline in August and revealed her alleged exploitation.

Kids Helpline supported the girl to tell her parents and police about the sadistic sextortion.

The Queensland Police Service then identified the Coffs Harbour man and referred the matter to their New South Wales counterparts.

Detectives attached to the NSW State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad commenced an investigation before swooping on Vandermeel before breakfast on Wednesday.

Strike force detectives – with help from Raptor Squad – arrested Vandermeel after storming his home in the sleepy coastal suburb of Safety Beach, 30km north of Coffs Harbour.

Heavily armed police frogmarched the dishevelled 28-year-old into his front yard where he watched as police executed a search warrant and seized multiple electronic devices for forensic examination.

Police allege he had been grooming the vulnerable girl, who he had met online, and was threatening her to share videos of her performing various compromising acts such as self-harming and performing sexual acts.

The Nightly understands that Vandermeel met his alleged victim, who lived in Queensland, on the anonymous video chat platform Emerald Chat in October 2023.

The platform markets itself as being “the best alternative to Omegle”.

“Similar to Omegle, Emerald Chat was built to help people meet each other online and talk to strangers,” its website says.

He also allegedly contacted the teenaged girl using social platform Discord before allegedly being banned for sharing child sexual exploitation material.

It is understood Vandermeel then moved his communication with his alleged victim to WhatsApp, an instant messaging service owned by technology conglomerate Meta.

Commander of State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty, said police will allege Vandermeel “built the relationship with a child” over nine months.

“We’ll further allege that over the next nine months that 28-year-old male continued to have conversations with this child on a number of different platforms, including playing games with the child for up to six hours a day on platforms and purchasing gaming cards to keep her engaged,” she said.

“During those nine months, we will allege he coerced that child to commit acts of self-harm and sexual acts online for his own sexual gratification.

“Police will allege that the male then threatened to abduct, rape and kill that child in conversations that he had with her online.”

Vandermeel was charged with using a carriage service to engage in sexual activity with a child, to do/plan harm to person under 16 years, to groom under 16 years for sex, to threaten to kill, to threaten to serious harm, to send indecent material to person under 16 years, and to cause child sexual activity.

He appeared in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Wednesday and was refused bail. His matter will return to court on December 10.

Det Supt Doherty said police are seeing an increase in ‘sadistic sextortion’ in Australia.

“These are the most horrendous acts that anyone can perform against a child,” she said.

“It’s something that is relatively new but for investigators to sit and read almost nine months of conversations where, it will be alleged, this man is manipulating and coercing this child to commit violent acts against herself and film them for him, kind of breaks your soul a little bit.

“So yesterday, we arrested a man we will allege is a monster and that’s a good day.”

Det Supt Doherty urged anyone with information about online child abuse to report it.

“These offenders will try to coerce children into not reporting to anyone,” she said.

“They’ll try to blame the children or tell them they’ll get in more trouble or something physical will happen to them if they report to parents or police.

“These people are committing horrendous acts against children that are affecting those children’s lives and we need to stop them.”

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800. Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.