New Jersey resident Marek Cherkaoui has been arrested and is facing charges after harassing women online. The man was discovered to be part of the Nihilistic Violent Extremist network, whose goal was to terrorize people on the internet. Although he spoke about a variety of terroristic and frankly terrifying topics and made threats online, his current charges stem from the harassment of a teenage girl who was made to harm herself on camera for his sick games.
On November 14, 2025, 21-year-old Cherkaoui was arrested on cyberstalking charges, the US Department of Justice shared in a news release. Citing court documents, the release notes that between December 2024 and May 2025, he threatened a young girl and told her to cut herself. She did on two occasions.
The complaint was obtained by People, which revealed that Cherkaoui’s victim was only 13 years old. According to the document, the girl cut herself after he threatened to dox her. The girl blocked Cherkaoui after the first time he made her cut herself, documents note. She later posted that she harmed herself because she was afraid her parents would be angry if they were doxed.
But the harassment didn’t stop after the teen blocked him. He found a way to get in touch with her and again ordered her to cut herself or be doxed. He allegedly followed the demand with a menacing text.
“YOU NEED TО DO IT AGAIN. THIS TIME DO IT LIVE ON CAMERA,” he wrote.
The girl clicked on a link provided to her that took her to Cherkaoui’s channel. She proceeded to cut herself live on camera, the complaint stated.
After the second incident, the teen closed all of her accounts so Cherkaoui couldn’t contact her again, she told investigators, per People. Cherkaoui still doxed her soon after by publishing the names of her family members as well as the addresses to her home and school.
In the complaint, Cherkaoui also is accused of targeting another person after he found a post where she spoke about being groomed and sexually harassed. He allegedly responded to the post, writing, “YOU DESERVED IT HАHА… IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL YOU FINALLY COMMIT [suicide].”
Shortly after, he got word that the person had died by suicide, People reported. He wrote this to his network: “HEY GUYS IT LOOKS LIKE WE ACTUALLY KILLED A PERSON.” That was proven to be false, however.
According to the complaint, Cherkaoui also solicited child sexual abuse materials from minors and expressed a desire to marry a 13-year-old girl.
During a search of Cherkaoui’s home, authorities found books on how to make explosives, NBC Philadelphia reported. They also found zip ties, body armor, tactical gear, ski masks, and a trench coat. There were also writings found in which Cherkaoui planned out murders and terrorist acts.
He also expressed an interest in joining ISIS and returning to the United States to commit terrorism.
According to the release, if convicted of cyberstalking a minor, Marek Cherkaoui faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.
