United States v. Florence (AI-Facilitated Cyberstalking)
IT professional programmed AI chatbots with victims' personal information to conduct sexually explicit conversations while impersonating 12+ victims (including 2 minors). Created 62 accounts across 30 platforms. Sentenced to 9 years federal prison July 2025.
AI System
AI chatbots (self-programmed)
Various
Reported
July 15, 2025
Jurisdiction
US-MA
Platform Type
chatbot
What Happened
James Florence Jr., an IT professional from Plymouth, Massachusetts, conducted a 16-year cyberstalking campaign (2008-2024) targeting 12+ women, including 2 minors. Using his technical skills, Florence programmed AI chatbots loaded with victims' personal information - names, photos, family details, work information. He then used these AI-powered bots to conduct sexually explicit conversations across multiple platforms while impersonating his victims, creating the false appearance that the women were engaging in these conversations themselves. Florence created 62 separate accounts across 30 different online platforms to perpetuate the harassment. The AI component allowed him to scale and automate aspects of the harassment while maintaining convincing impersonations. Victims experienced severe psychological distress from discovering sexually explicit content falsely attributed to them circulating online. The 16-year duration demonstrates how technical sophistication enabled sustained, systematic harassment. Florence was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison in July 2025, representing one of the first convictions for AI-facilitated cyberstalking. The case demonstrates how AI tools can be weaponized by perpetrators to conduct sophisticated impersonation and harassment campaigns at scale.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
AI chatbots programmed with stolen personal information; automated impersonation at scale; generated sexually explicit content falsely attributed to victims; enabled sustained harassment campaign across multiple platforms
How Harm Occurred
Technical expertise weaponized AI for systematic harassment; impersonation using victims' real information created credible false content; scale and automation enabled 16-year campaign; victims faced reputational harm and psychological distress
Outcome
Sentenced July 2025 to 9 years federal prison for cyberstalking and related charges. 16-year campaign targeting 12+ victims.
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
12+ women including 2 minors, Plymouth, Massachusetts area
Detectable by NOPE
While NOPE Oversight focuses on AI companion behavior, this case demonstrates need for platform-level detection of AI-generated impersonation and harassment. Cross-platform coordination and identity verification could help prevent AI-facilitated cyberstalking.
Cite This Incident
APA
NOPE. (2025). United States v. Florence (AI-Facilitated Cyberstalking). AI Harm Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-florence-ai-cyberstalking
BibTeX
@misc{2024_florence_ai_cyberstalking,
title = {United States v. Florence (AI-Facilitated Cyberstalking)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {AI Harm Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-florence-ai-cyberstalking}
}