A federal grand jury in Lafayette has indicted Carter Miles Ledoux, a 19-year-old resident of Lake Charles, on charges including stalking, threatening, and “swatting” a minor girl and her family. The indictments also include allegations of possessing child sexual abuse materials.
According to court documents, Ledoux allegedly targeted the minor after she made a social media post supporting interracial relationships. He is accused of conspiring with members of his Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) group to find contact and location information for the girl and her parents, sending threatening text messages using anonymizing internet services, and placing a hoax emergency call—known as “swatting”—to law enforcement that falsely claimed there were pipe bombs at the family’s home and threats against responding officers. Public social media posts reportedly glorified the attack.
After Ledoux’s arrest, authorities say a search of his smartphone revealed images depicting child sexual abuse involving toddlers.
“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.”
Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office added: “The FBI will not abide threats to children. 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.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation collaborated with the Saint Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office on this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Johnson is prosecuting the case with support from Legal Assistant Emily Lanphier.
Authorities emphasized that an indictment is an allegation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
Additional details about this case can be found on the United States Attorney’s Office website for the Western District of Louisiana at www.justice.gov/usao-wdla or through related court documents available at www.lawd.uscourts.gov and https://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/cmecf-pacer.
