WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – A man from Washtenaw County is facing federal charges after allegedly coercing children as young as 10 years old for pornographic images on Discord and exchanging sexually graphic messages with multiple children.
Cody Brian Pavasco faces federal charges of sexual exploitation of children, receipt and distribution of child pornography and coercion and enticement of minors.
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On Feb. 18, 2024, a mother reported to Mesquite police that she found chat messages on her young daughter’s Discord that were sexual in nature between her daughter and another user.
The conversation the mother found happened the night before and appeared to be a continuation of an earlier conversation that was deleted.
The mother gave police consent to search the phone the child used and found sexually graphic messages and images exchanged between the child and the other user beginning on Feb. 17, 2024.
The conversation continued into Feb. 18, 2024.
Police obtained a search warrant to request subscriber information for the Discord account that talked to the child. Comcast provided information on the IP address associated with the account to Pavasco in Ann Arbor.
Court documents said the phone number on the Comcast account matched the number associated with the Discord account.
On April 17, 2024, the mother contacted police again, reporting her young daughter had been in contact with the same user again. The conversations were, again, sexually graphic.
She showed the Discord account and provided screenshots of the “About Me” section, which showed that the user lived in Ann Arbor but was from South Bend, Indiana.
Police requested updated subscriber information from Discord on Nov. 22, 2024. On Nov. 25, 2024, Discord responded, reporting that the account was still associated with the original user who contacted the child. The billing information was under Pavasco and associated with the same address in Ann Arbor.
However, a different IP address was used to log into the account between Sept. 16, 2024, and Nov. 22, 2024. Comcast reported the IP address was listed as an apartment in Ypsilanti.
A search warrant for the Discord account was authorized by the Eastern District of Michigan on Dec. 17, 2024.
The data provided by Discord included additional sexually graphic chats with other children between the ages of 10 and 16 years old between March 2023 and October 2023.
In one conversation, authorities said Pavasco allegedly asked for naked photos after a child told him she was less than 16 years old.
According to court documents, Pavasco used to live in Ann Arbor and has an Indiana driver’s license matching the information the mother who reported the conversations provided to police.