YouTuber charged with sex crimes after shocking documentary revelations - USA Today
Former YouTuber EDP455 has been arrested and charged with several felony sex crimes after statements he made in a documentary.
Bryant Turhanemmerson Moreland was arrested in Las Vegas on Nov. 4 and charged in California with four felonies. His charges include attempting to commit lewd acts upon a child, meeting a minor for lewd purposes, contacting a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense and distributing or showing pornography to a minor, according to Kern County court records viewed by USA TODAY.
The charges come after a 2021 incident involving a child under 14, seemingly related to his infamous run-in with YouTube "predator catchers," according to a release from the county district attorney's office. Moreland was arrested, but the office said it investigated the incident at the time and could not move forward "due to the lack of cooperation from the reporting parties," until Moreland's statements in the documentary "The Sick Mind of EDP445," directed by Mike Clum.
"In light of recent statements made by Moreland in the documentary, the Kern [County] District Attorney's Office and the Kern County [Sheriff's] Office reopened the investigation," the office said. "Following its review of the new evidence, the District Attorney's Office determined that the evidentiary threshold for filing criminal charges had been met."
Public outcry against Moreland – who, at his height, had over 4 million YouTube subscribers before the platform terminated his account – was prompted by Alex Rosen's viral 2021 sting operation, when Moreland responded to a decoy account posing as a 13-year-old girl named "Sophie."
The documentary, released in August, includes shocking statements by Moreland, who participates significantly in the film, while acknowledging sexual communications with children.
The film features Moreland discussing his sexual attraction to minors, his often contradictory attempts to take accountability and his actions leading up to the 2021 amateur sting. Prosecutors said his statements in the film prompted them to reopen the investigation that led to his arrest.
"I knew that it was wrong. I knew that it was something that was highly illegal that shouldn't be done," Moreland says at one point in the documentary regarding the 2021 incident. "I was clearly aware of the law and I was clearly aware of what I was doing."
He continued, "I felt bad and at the same time, she was like the only person that was really giving me that sort of attention."
Elsewhere in the documentary, a 15-year-old girl named Kayla is interviewed. Kayla alleges Moreland sent her sexually explicit images and videos, as well as threats, and felt pressured to continue communicating with Moreland at the urging of former YouTube predator catcher JiDion, which he denied. Former "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen also makes an appearance, interviewing Moreland and criticizing the amateur predator sting operation at the center of the controversy.
While Moreland acknowledged his actions in the documentary, he said he was never investigated because Rosen "botched" the operation. "I'm a free man," he said.
Michael Pariente, an attorney interviewed in the documentary, warned of Moreland's participation in the film, "There's definitely a chance that he faces criminal prosecution. I think what he's doing now by quite frankly doing this documentary, it's just a stupid … idea."
Documentary director Mike Clum, in a Nov. 5 statement to USA TODAY, credited content creators and the internet community for spurring action in the case.
"The arrest was a culmination of the entire YouTube and online community that took interest in this case," Clum said. "Cold Raven & Alex Rosen, Charles White Jr. aka Penguinz0, Jidion & Skeeter Jean, Chris Hansen, and countless others played a part in raising awareness, and eventually putting enough pressure on Kern County officials to take action."
