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NOPE
Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Hampton, New Hampshire: police say a Massachusetts man harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year and posted an AI-generated deepfake video showing the resident being arrested and jailed, events police say never happened; he was indicted on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes and is held after his bail was revoked

Hampton police say a man from Worcester, Massachusetts harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts, stemming from a perceived past disagreement, and kept going after the victim asked him to stop and after he was served with a stalking order of protection in October 2025. In November 2025 the victim showed police an AI-generated deepfake video that, according to the arrest-warrant affidavit, the man created to humiliate and defame him; it shows the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling the victim's Hampton home and images of real people. A police sergeant said the depicted events never happened and that the video was posted on YouTube. A Rockingham County grand jury indicted the man on four Class B felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes under RSA 638:26-a, for creating, distributing and presenting a video of an identifiable person on 20 October, 31 October, 7 November and 13 November 2025. He turned himself in on 24 March, was released on bail, was arrested again on 26 August for alleged bail violations and is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections. Police had the video removed. The AI tool is not named and the victim's own account is relayed only through the police.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
20 Oct 2025 to 13 Nov 2025
Reported
29 June 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbuseReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources
3 claims: 3 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: An unnamed generative-AI tool used to make a deepfake video of a real person (Hampton police and arrest-warrant affidavit via Seacoastonline); the tool is not identified

What Happened

Seacoastonline (24 September 2026) reports the Hampton police account, quoting detective Sgt. Chris Keyser and the arrest-warrant affidavit filed by Detective Kevin Smith. The accused, formerly of Worcester, Massachusetts, is alleged to have harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts, all stemming from what investigators described as a perceived past disagreement. The victim repeatedly asked him to stop, and a stalking order of protection was served on him in October 2025. In November 2025 the victim showed police an AI-generated deepfake video that the affidavit says was created to humiliate and defame him: it depicts the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling the victim's Hampton residence and images of real people. Keyser said the events shown never happened, and that the video was posted on YouTube. According to the affidavit, the man admitted in phone calls with the detective to posting videos about the victim on his YouTube channel, said he had done some wrong things but blamed the victim, became irate when the deepfake statute was explained, and made clear he did not intend to stop; he believed he would not be prosecuted because he had no plans to return to New Hampshire. Patch (29 June 2026) lists the Rockingham County Superior Court indictment on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes for creating, distributing and presenting a video of an identifiable person to embarrass, harass or defame on 20 October, 31 October, 7 November and 13 November 2025 in Hampton. The man agreed to turn himself in in March; he was taken into custody on 24 March, arraigned and released on bail with no-contact conditions, then arrested again on 26 August on a second warrant alleging bail violations, and his bail was revoked. His attorney did not immediately respond to Seacoastonline. Police were able to have the video removed. The video's reach, the victim's own account of its effects and the AI tool used are not reported.

Reported harm

Police say the victim was harassed for more than a year and targeted with a posted AI-generated video falsely depicting his arrest and jailing, which the affidavit says was made to humiliate and defame him (Hampton police and affidavit via Seacoastonline; indictment via Patch).

Outcome

Ongoing

Indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes (Patch, 29 June 2026); described by police as the first person in Hampton charged under RSA 638:26-a (enacted 2025), each Class B count carrying up to seven years. He turned himself in and was taken into custody on 24 March, arraigned the next day and released on bail; after alleged violations of his bail conditions he was arrested again on 26 August, his bail was revoked and he remains at the Rockingham County House of Corrections pending further court action (Seacoastonline, 24 September 2026). A stalking order of protection had been served in October 2025. Police had the video removed. No plea or trial date is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool was used to make the video and how it was established that the video was AI-generated.
  • How widely the video was seen before removal, and the victim's own account of its effects.
  • The start date of the harassment ('more than a year') and the nature of the 'perceived past disagreement'.
  • The accused's plea and any trial date; the indictment text was not read.
  • Whether the other 'real people' whose images appear in the video were harmed.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The arrest-warrant affidavit, as reported by Seacoastonline, describes an 'AI-generated deepfake video' of the victim, and the grand jury indicted the man on counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes (Patch). The tool used is not identified and no forensic finding is reported.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to Hampton police and the arrest-warrant affidavit, the accused harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts, continued after being served with a stalking order of protection in October 2025, and created an AI-generated deepfake video, shown to police by the victim in November 2025, that depicts the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling his Hampton residence; police say the depicted events never happened and that the video was posted on YouTube.

Causal attribution. Police and affidavit account (one chain); the accused's lawyer did not respond and the allegations have not been tried.

  • seacoastonline.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'allegedly harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year through phone calls, texts, emails and online posts'; 'with a stalking order of protection last October.'; 'In November, the victim showed police an AI-generated deepfake video'; 'allegedly created to humiliate and defame him, the affidavit states. The video depicts the victim being arrested and jailed and includes a structure resembling the victim's Hampton residence, as well as images of real people.'; 'Keyser said the events shown in the deepfake "never happened."'; 'posted it on YouTube,'
Reported A Rockingham County grand jury indicted the accused on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes for creating, distributing and presenting a video of an identifiable person to embarrass, harass or defame on 20 October, 31 October, 7 November and 13 November 2025 in Hampton.

Causal attribution. Indictment as listed by Patch; Seacoastonline independently reports four Class B felony counts. The indictment text was not read.

  • patch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes. He was accused of creating, distributing, and presenting a video of an identifiable person to embarrass, harass, or defame them on Oct. 20, Oct. 31, Nov. 7, and Nov. 13, 2025, in Hampton.'
  • seacoastonline.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Each of the four Class B felony counts carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in state prison'
Reported The accused was taken into custody on 24 March, arraigned the next day and released on bail; after alleged bail violations he was arrested again on 26 August, his bail was revoked and he is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections; police had the deepfake video removed.

Causal attribution. Police account as reported. The article gives no year for 24 March and 26 August; its publication on 24 September 2026 and the June 2026 indictment place both in 2026.

  • seacoastonline.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He was taken into custody on March 24, arraigned the next day, and released on bail.'; 'He was arrested again on Aug. 26, Keyser said. His bail was revoked'; 'Keyser said police were able to have the deepfake video'

Sources

2 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-09-27 in full through the identical Gannett path on eu.seacoastonline.com (www returned 402). Quotes the police sergeant and the arrest-warrant affidavit. Applies to s1.

Read live on 2026-09-27 (Salem NH Patch, 29 June 2026). A roundup of Rockingham County Superior Court indictments; the indictment itself was not read. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

The victim lives in Hampton, New Hampshire and the indicted conduct is placed 'in Hampton' (Patch); the accused lived in Worcester, Massachusetts; the case is in Rockingham County Superior Court (Patch) and he is held at the Rockingham County House of Corrections (Seacoastonline).

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-27: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case (an AI-generated deepfake depicting a real person in events that did not happen, used in a harassment campaign): Seacoastonline reports the police and affidavit account in detail and Patch separately lists the grand-jury indictment on four deepfake counts. The allegations are untested. The victim is unnamed and the accused is not named here.

People described

A Hampton, New Hampshire resident (not named; police refer to him as the victim)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One harassed and depicted person, the Hampton resident (Seacoastonline; the indictment counts concern 'an identifiable person', Patch). The 'real people' whose images appear in the video are not counted: no harm to them is reported. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfakes#harassment#stalking#new-hampshire#hampton#criminal-charges#rsa-638-26-a

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Hampton, New Hampshire: police say a Massachusetts man harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year and posted an AI-generated deepfake video showing the resident being arrested and jailed, events police say never happened; he was indicted on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes and is held after his bail was revoked. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-hampton-new-hampshire-ai-deepfake-arrest-video-harassment-charges

BibTeX

@misc{2026_hampton_new_hampshire_ai_deepfake_arrest_video_harassment_charges,
  title = {Hampton, New Hampshire: police say a Massachusetts man harassed a Hampton resident for more than a year and posted an AI-generated deepfake video showing the resident being arrested and jailed, events police say never happened; he was indicted on four felony counts of fraudulent use of deepfakes and is held after his bail was revoked},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-hampton-new-hampshire-ai-deepfake-arrest-video-harassment-charges}
}

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