Three of Reddit’s largest transgender-focused subreddits were being overseen by a convicted sex offender — and when other moderators found out, at least one of them allegedly worked to keep him in place.
The offender, Branden Michael Dunleavy, operated under the usernames Brynn and u/ranshin-da-anarchist.
His criminal background remained unknown to the general user base of the communities he helped manage until investigative outlet Reduxx published its findings, setting off a wave of backlash across the platform.
Dunleavy has since deleted his Reddit account entirely.
The moderator accused of attempting to protect his position, known on the platform as Cedarwolf, has not publicly addressed the allegations against him.
The South Carolina Sex Offender Database lists Dunleavy as convicted under state code § 16-15-410, the statute addressing Third Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
That law targets individuals who knowingly possess material — photographs, videos, or digital files — depicting minors engaged in sexual activity or sexually explicit nudity.
In plain terms, the statute is aimed at child pornography possession.
Dunleavy reportedly told fellow moderators a different story when confronted.
He characterized the charge as “overblown,” claiming the situation involved a 15-year-old he was dating while he himself was 19 and that the relationship had parental approval.
The South Carolina database, however, lists his age at the time of the offense as 21.
Public posts following the Reduxx report alleged that Dunleavy’s conduct went beyond simple possession.
According to one post, he was allegedly “going onto Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) websites, collecting CSAM content, and hanging out in underage chatrooms to solicit sexual interactions from minors.”
The story first broke into public view when a Reddit user going by the handle Living-East-8486 accused Cedarwolf, described as the lead moderator of the male-to-female subreddit r/MTF, of working to “keep a convicted child predator on the [male-to-female] moderator team.”
The accusation came wrapped in personal frustration.
Living-East-8486 stated he had been removed from the community over his own content — posts he described as kink-related but always labeled for adults — while a convicted offender simultaneously held moderation authority over that same community.
“The primary thing I’ve been pondering is how on earth I can actually bring this to light without making it seem like I’m just trying to get revenge. To be honest, I don’t think there is any foolproof way for me to do that,” Living-East-8486 wrote.
He continued: “Frankly, I’m furious over this situation … This moderator’s primary reasoning for excluding me from the community was to ‘protect the children’ from my weird *** kink posts (which were always marked 18+).”
“Then I find out that they are openly defending a child predator being on the mod team.”
Screenshots from what appeared to be private Discord conversations painted a clearer picture of what allegedly occurred behind closed doors.
In those exchanges, Cedarwolf — using the handle Cedarpaw — expressed hesitation about removing Dunleavy from the moderation team, citing difficult times ahead for transgender communities.
Rather than removing him outright, Cedarwolf allegedly suggested Dunleavy simply adopt a new username to obscure his identity.
The proposal included a suggestion that Dunleavy spend roughly a week posting in unrelated subreddits to establish a clean-looking account history before returning to a moderating role.
Other moderators reportedly rejected the plan immediately, with some threatening to resign from their positions if Dunleavy was allowed to remain in any position of authority.
Reports indicate the moderator team first received a tip about Dunleavy’s background in late 2025, though it was initially dismissed as trolling before further confirmation came through.
A community member captured the broader concern in a post that circulated widely: “A registered sex offender was on the mod team.”
“Said sex offender was removed, then reinstated under a new account to keep them in a position of authority. All this in a community that has been repeatedly bashed as sexual deviants in what is now (unfortunately) Mainstream Media. In a community that has minors in it.”
Following the public disclosure, r/MTF users began demanding Cedarwolf’s resignation.
Others announced they were abandoning the subreddit altogether, per Reduxx.
