COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A Columbus man pleaded guilty to cybsertalking and producing AI-generated sexual abuse material, the first conviction of its kind under a new federal law.
James Strahler II on Tuesday admitted to using over 100 AI models to harass at least six women and multiple children, according to U.S. District Court records. A statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Strahler is the first person in the nation convicted under the Take It Down Act, a 2025 law targeting non-consensual AI “deepfakes.”
Between December 2024 and June 2025, Strahler, 37, created pornographic AI videos of adult victims and distributed them to their coworkers, federal prosecutors said. He also used the faces of local minor boys to generate explicit material and posted hundreds of images to a site dedicated to child sexual abuse, according to the FBI.
Columbus man is first in the nation convicted under new ‘Take it Down’ AI deepfake law
U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II said his office will use “every tool at our disposal” to prosecute those using AI to intimidate others.
The investigation involved the Hilliard Police Department, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, and the Maryland AI and Synthetic Media Threats Task Force.
Strahler, who was arrested in June 2025, now awaits sentencing.
