Hilo man arrested for child pornography violation

Kalana Limkin, age 18, of Hilo, made his initial appearance in United States District Court today before United States Magistrate Judge Rom Trader, following his arrest for violating child pornography law.

He was ordered detained pending a detention hearing on Dec. 21. The charge against Limkin was contained in a criminal complaint filed in federal court and unsealed upon his arrest. 

The complaint and affidavit allege that Limkin was identified as the founder of a group, “Cultist,” which focused on specific behaviors, such as promoting child pornography, child exploitation, sexual extortion, and trafficking and self harm of minors. Limkin allegedly uploaded multiple child pornography image files. 

On Sept. 12, 2023, the FBI issued a public notice about groups that are “deliberately targeting minor victims on publicly available messaging platforms to extort them into recording or livestreaming acts of self harm and producing child sexual abuse material.”

The FBI advises persons who believe they may be victims of a crime using these types of tactics, should retain all information regarding the incident (e.g., usernames, email addresses, websites or names of platforms used for communication, photos, videos, etc.) and immediately report it to: 

FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov 

FBI Honolulu Field Office [808-566-4300 or 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324)] National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (1-800-THE LOST or www.cybertipline.org).

If indicted and convicted of the offense in the complaint, the defendant would face a mandatory minimum term of five years and up to 20 years in prison. The charges and information contained in the federal complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until indicted and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

The FBI and Hawai‘i County Police Department conducted the investigation resulting in the arrest. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohammad Khatib.