Sex offender accused of having AI-generated child porn
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A registered sex offender has been charged with a felony after he allegedly kept child pornography on his cellphone that was generated by artificial intelligence.
Charles Hooton, 63, of Columbia, was charged with possessing child porn. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance was held Wednesday afternoon.
The probable cause statement says police were called on May 18 about a report of Hooton having child porn after a woman saw a number of images while using his cellphone.
Hooton spoke with police on July 24 and let them go through his phone, court documents say. He allegedly admitted to using an AI app to generate the explicit images, the statement says. Police wrote that 135 obscene images were found on Hooton’s phone.
Hooton’s web history also included several websites that had “teen,” “boy” and other related phrases in the name, court documents say.
Court documents and the Missouri sex offender registry say Hooton was convicted of second-degree statutory sodomy 25 years ago.