Columbus, Ohio — An Ohio man became the first person in the United States sentenced following a conviction under the federal Take It Down Act, receiving 15 years in prison for a cyberstalking campaign involving real and AI-generated sexually explicit material.
James Strahler II, 37, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publishing digital forgeries. Federal prosecutors said he harassed at least six women between December 2024 and June 2025 using threatening calls, messages and manipulated sexual images.
Investigators found that Strahler had installed more than 24 AI platforms and over 100 web-based AI models on his phone. Prosecutors said he created more than 700 images involving real victims and animated subjects and posted them to a website devoted to child sexual abuse. Another 2,400 images and videos on his phone were flagged for nudity, morphed child sexual abuse material or violence.
Authorities said Strahler also used the faces of actual minor boys from his community to create AI-generated sexual images involving relatives, while separately threatening adult victims with sexual violence and distributing fabricated explicit material to their co-workers.
His conviction for publishing digital forgeries falls under the Take It Down Act, enacted in 2025 to criminalize certain nonconsensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes.
Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison imposed the 180-month sentence Tuesday. Prosecutors described the case as the nation’s first successful prosecution under the new law.
Sources
Discover more from News Facts Network
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
