Man arrested of using AI to create child pornography, deputies say
By Allison Petro, Hayley Crombleholme
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MARION COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — A man was arrested after he was accused of creating child pornography using artificial intelligence, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies identified the suspect as 39-year-old Lucius Martin.
MCSO received a report claiming that Martin had images of child sexual abuse material involving two juvenile victims stored on his cell phone.
The reportee stated that she discovered several original photos obtained from a social media application, alongside the altered versions that Martin modified using AI.
Deputies said Martin created the images on June 3.
Martin was located during a traffic stop. He refused to comply with demands to exit his vehicle and barricaded himself.
Deputies said Martin reset his cell phone to destroy the evidence.
He was eventually apprehended and taken to the MCSO Criminal Investigations Division for an interview. However, he chose not to speak with officials.
Martin was placed under arrest and is currently in custody at the Marion County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
He was charged with:
Four counts of creating child pornography Four counts of possession of child pornography One count of destroying evidence in a felony investigation
His arrest came just days before a new law takes effect Oct. 1. The law explicitly states that it’s illegal to generate “an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person, without consent.”
“We’re very, very glad that that new law is in place,” Lt. Paul Bloom with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. “Because we don’t want there to be any loopholes when it comes to protecting children,”.
Horacio Maysonet, president and CEO of cybersecurity solutions, says most reputable AI programs have guardrails that prevent people from creating these types of images. But,
“Sadly, there are a couple of models; there are models out there in the wild, as we say, specifically on the dark web, that have zero guardrails and no matter what you ask them to do or what the request is, the AI will execute and generate,” Maysonet said.
He encourages checking the privacy settings on your social media and locking it down. The Sheriff’s Office does, too.
“That’s your best defense,” Lt. Bloom said. “Is it impenetrable? Of course not.
As of Tuesday night, Martin was being held in the Marion County jail. His arrest report says he is currently the subject of a sexual molestation investigation in another county.
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