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High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

New York basketball coach pleads guilty after deputies say he made AI-generated explicit images of females he knew, including a 14-year-old girl

The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office in New York arrested a basketball coach and trainer, charging him on 16 April 2026, after a person reported that he had AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew. According to the sheriff's office, the people depicted were aged 14 to 30, and detectives found on his device an AI-generated pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl made from a photo taken when she was 12; the person who reported it had seen that image. Detectives said only the image of the minor could be charged as a crime. The district attorney's office added 12 counts in May 2026. On 9 October 2026, according to syracuse.com, he pleaded guilty to all 12 counts of the indictment, including promoting and possessing a sexual performance by a child, on a judge's plea offer of six months in a correctional facility followed by 10 years' probation and sex-offender registration. Sentencing is set for 8 January, a date syracuse.com gives without a year. The AI tool is not identified, and no source reports whether the images were shared beyond the person who saw the minor's image.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
16 April 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: AI image generation used to make pornographic images of real girls and women known to the maker, including one made from a photo of a girl taken when she was 12 (tool not identified)

What Happened

Report and arrest. According to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, its investigation began when a person reported that a local basketball coach, consultant and trainer had AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew. The sheriff's office said those depicted were aged 14 to 30. Detectives found the images on his device, including a pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl that had been made from a photo taken when she was 12. According to syracuse.com, deputies said that this image had been seen by another person, who reported it, and detectives said that only the image involving the minor could be charged as a crime. The sheriff's office charged him on 16 April 2026 with promoting and possessing a sexual performance by a child (felonies) and misdemeanour obscenity and endangering the welfare of a child; he was released on bond two days later.

Further charges and plea. In May 2026 the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office announced three counts each of promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing a sexual performance by a child, obscenity and endangering the welfare of a child. On 9 October 2026, syracuse.com reported, he pleaded guilty to 12 counts on a plea offer from the judge: six months in a correctional facility, 10 years' probation and registration as a sex offender. Under New York law a defendant accepting a judge's plea offer must plead guilty to the whole indictment. The prosecutor said the district attorney's offer had required state prison time. Sentencing is set for 8 January, a date syracuse.com gives without a year.

What is not known. The bodies do not identify the AI tool, say when the images were made, give the number of people depicted or report whether any image was shared beyond the person who reported the minor's image. The people depicted have not spoken publicly.

Reported harm

According to the sheriff's office, girls and women known to a basketball coach, aged 14 to 30, were depicted without consent in AI-generated pornographic images, one made from a photo of a girl taken when she was 12; he pleaded guilty to child sexual performance offences over the image of the minor.

Outcome

Pending

Arrested and charged by the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office on 16 April 2026; released on a $150,000 bond on 18 April; 12 further counts announced by the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office in May 2026. On 9 October 2026 he pleaded guilty to the entire indictment on a judge's plea offer of six months at the Jamesville Correctional Facility, 10 years' probation and sex-offender registration; the prosecutor said the district attorney's offer would have required state prison. Sentencing is scheduled for 8 January, a date syracuse.com gives without a year.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool generated the images and when they were made; the bodies date only the report, arrest, charges and plea.
  • How many girls and women were depicted beyond the charged image of the 14-year-old.
  • Whether any image was shared beyond the person who reported the minor's image.
  • The final sentence, due at a hearing on 8 January (the report gives no year).

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office said a person reported that the coach had 'AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew' and that detectives found on his device an AI-generated pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl made from a photo taken when she was 12; CNY Central, reporting the district attorney's office's new charges, described the investigation as one into 'his use of AI to generate pornographic images of children'; and syracuse.com reports that deputies said he admitted making AI-generated explicit images, including one of a minor, and that he pleaded guilty. The generated images depicted real girls and women in sexual content (depicted_or_impersonated), which is the harm charged. The tool is not identified.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, the investigation began when a person reported that the coach had AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew, whose ages ranged from 14 to 30.

Causal attribution. The sheriff's office account, relayed by two outlets (one origin: the sheriff's office); the ages come from CNY Central's report of it.

  • cnycentral.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The investigation into'; 'alleged crimes began when a person reported that'; 'had AI-generated pornographic images of females he knew. Those victims' ages ranged from 14 to 30-years-old.'
  • syracuse.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was in possession of AI-generated pornographic images of females known to him, said Thomas Newton, a spokesperson for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.'
Reported Detectives found on the coach's device an AI-generated pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl made from a photo taken when she was 12; another person had seen that image and reported it.

Causal attribution. Sheriff's office statements as relayed by two outlets; one origin.

  • cnycentral.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Those images included a pornographic image of a 14-year-old who was 12-years-old when the photo was taken.'
  • syracuse.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Investigators later identified an AI-generated pornographic image of a 14-year-old girl on'; 'The original photo used to create the image was taken when the girl was 12, Newton said.'; 'One photo of the 14-year-old girl was seen by another person, who reported it to the department, deputies said.'
Reported He was charged on 16 April 2026 with promoting and possessing a sexual performance by a child, and in May 2026 the district attorney's office announced 12 further counts.

Causal attribution. Charging announcements by the sheriff's office and the district attorney's office as reported by CNY Central; no charging document read.

  • cnycentral.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'On April 16, the sheriff's office charged'
  • cnycentral.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was charged with three counts each of promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing a sexual performance by a child, obscenity and endangering the welfare of a child, the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.'; 'Those are 12 new counts he's facing.'
Reported On 9 October 2026 he pleaded guilty to 12 counts on a judge's plea offer of six months in a correctional facility, 10 years' probation and sex-offender registration, with sentencing set for 8 January (no year given); detectives said only the image involving the minor could be charged.

Causal attribution. syracuse.com's report of the plea hearing and the deputies' statement; no court record read. 'Friday' in a report published Friday 9 October 2026 gives the plea date.

  • syracuse.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'pleaded guilty Friday to 12 counts, including promoting a sexual performance by a child and possession of a sexual performance by a child.'; 'was promised a sentence of six months at the Jamesville Correctional Facility followed by 10 years of probation.'; 'He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8.'; 'Even though detectives found other explicit photos, they said only the one involving the minor could be charged as a crime.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-11 in the Internet Archive capture of 9 October 2026 (web.archive.org id_, HTTP 200) because syracuse.com returned 403; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read the article. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-11 on cnycentral.com (HTTP 200); reports the sheriff's office announcement. No translation was involved. Applies to s2.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-11 on cnycentral.com (HTTP 200); reports the district attorney's announcement of new charges; same outlet as s2, so the same independence group. No translation was involved. Applies to s3.

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

Event: the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office (New York) investigated the report and found the images on the coach's device; the prosecution is in Onondaga County. Affected persons: the bodies describe the depicted females only as people the coach knew and give no location for them, so affected_person_countries is left empty. Court: an Onondaga County court took the plea.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-11: Published as a core case on the sheriff's office and district attorney's statements relayed by two outlets and a guilty plea reported by syracuse.com: AI-generated pornographic images depicting real girls and women known to the maker, including a 14-year-old girl, led to child sexual performance charges and a plea to all 12 counts. The coach, the depicted people, his town and his business are not named, so that the girls cannot be identified through him; the tool and the number of people depicted are unknown.

People described

Females known to the coach, described by the sheriff's office as aged 14 to 30, depicted in AI-generated pornographic images without their consent; one was a 14-year-old girl whose image was made from a photo taken when she was 12

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One counted person: the 14-year-old girl depicted in the charged image. The sheriff's office describes further depicted females aged up to 30 without giving their number, so the count is partial. The coach used the tool, so participant_users_affected_min is 0. The person who reported the image is not counted.

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

Tags

#deepfake#non-consensual intimate imagery#image generation#criminal case

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). New York basketball coach pleads guilty after deputies say he made AI-generated explicit images of females he knew, including a 14-year-old girl. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-onondaga-county-basketball-coach-ai-explicit-images-of-girl-and-women-guilty-plea

BibTeX

@misc{2026_onondaga_county_basketball_coach_ai_explicit_images_of_girl_and_women_guilty_plea,
  title = {New York basketball coach pleads guilty after deputies say he made AI-generated explicit images of females he knew, including a 14-year-old girl},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-onondaga-county-basketball-coach-ai-explicit-images-of-girl-and-women-guilty-plea}
}

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