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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Columbus, Ohio: a man was sentenced to 15 years for cyberstalking at least six women with real and AI-generated sexual images and rape threats, the first conviction under the Take It Down Act

Between December 2024 and June 2025 James Strahler II, then 37, of Columbus (Upper Arlington), Ohio, harassed at least six women in central Ohio by phone, voicemail, text and web posts, sending them nude images that were both real and AI-generated, threatening rape, referring to their home addresses and demanding nude photos from their mothers. In one case he used AI to make pornographic videos depicting a victim with her father and sent them to her co-workers. He also posted AI-generated sexual images of boys from his community, morphing their faces onto other bodies. Prosecutors said he had installed more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 web-based AI models on his phone. He pleaded guilty in April 2026 to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries, and on 8 September 2026 Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison sentenced him to 180 months in prison. The U.S. Attorney called it the first conviction in the nation under the 2025 Take It Down Act.

AI system
Unidentified image and video tool
Occurred
Dec 2024 to Jun 2025
Reported
8 September 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbusePsychological DistressReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Relationships · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 4 sources
3 claims: 3 corroborated. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 6 people

AI system as recorded: Generative AI image and video tools (not named; prosecutors said more than 24 AI platforms and over 100 web-based AI models were installed on the defendant's phone)

What Happened

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio and court reporting, James Strahler II used telephone calls, voicemails, text messages and web postings between December 2024 and June 2025 in a campaign of harassment against at least six adult women in central Ohio. The messages included nude images of the victims that were both authentic and AI-generated. He threatened rape in voicemails, referred to victims' exact home addresses, and threatened victims' mothers, demanding nude photographs and threatening to circulate explicit images if they did not comply. In at least one case he used AI to generate pornographic videos depicting an adult victim in sexual acts with her father and sent them to her co-workers. He also posted online AI-generated obscene images of boys from his community, morphing their faces onto the bodies of other children or adults, including imagery of the boys with older female relatives; more than 700 images of both real people and animated figures were posted to a website used for child sexual abuse material, and about 2,400 further images and videos on his phone were flagged for nudity, morphed child sexual abuse material or violence. The case began when one victim contacted Hilliard Police about threatening messages she and her mother had received; after a second round of messages from an unknown number, investigators obtained a search warrant for his phone, which led to federal charges and his arrest in June 2025. He pleaded guilty in April 2026 and was sentenced on 8 September 2026 to 15 years. The specific AI tools are not named in any inspected source.

Reported harm

At least six women were sexually harassed and threatened with rape using real and AI-generated nude images of themselves, with AI videos of one victim sent to her co-workers; victims' mothers were threatened, and boys from the defendant's community were depicted in AI-generated sexual abuse imagery posted online. The perpetrator received 15 years in federal prison.

Outcome

Resolved

2025: a victim reported threatening messages containing real and AI-generated nude images to Hilliard Police; Strahler admitted responsibility and was charged locally and released, then three months later the same victim was contacted again from an unknown number; a search warrant on his phone led to federal charges and his arrest in June 2025 (10TV). April 2026: guilty plea in U.S. District Court (S.D. Ohio) to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, and publication of digital forgeries. 8 September 2026: Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison imposed 180 months (15 years) in prison. U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II described the case as the first prosecution in the nation under the Take It Down Act (enacted May 2025). Investigated by the FBI with Hilliard Police and the Delaware County Sheriff's Office.

What remains unknown

  • The exact number of adult victims beyond 'at least six' and the number of boys depicted are not stated.
  • The AI tools used are not named in any inspected source.
  • Whether restitution or protective orders were imposed is not reported.
  • The status of the earlier local (state) charge is not reported.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The defendant pleaded guilty to publication of digital forgeries and producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse; prosecutors and the court record describe AI-generated nude images and AI-made videos of victims and AI-morphed images of boys. The AI tools depicted the affected people; they did not communicate with them.

3 claims: 3 corroborated. What the statuses mean

Corroborated On 8 September 2026 James Strahler II was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Columbus to 180 months (15 years) after pleading guilty in April 2026 to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries; the U.S. Attorney described it as the first conviction under the Take It Down Act.

Causal attribution. Court outcome reported by the prosecuting office and two independent local newsrooms.

  • highlandcountypress.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'sentenced last week in U.S. District Court to 180 months in prison'; 'pleaded guilty in April to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries'; 'the first in the Nation under the Take It Down Act'.
  • dispatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'sentenced Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court in Columbus to 15 years in prison'; 'first in the nation to be convicted under a 2025 federal law'.
  • abc6onyourside.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sarah D. Morrison handed down the 180-month sentence to 37-year-old James Strahler II on Tuesday'.
Corroborated Between December 2024 and June 2025 Strahler harassed at least six adult women in central Ohio with messages containing real and AI-generated nude images of them, threatened rape, referred to their addresses, threatened their mothers, and in one case sent AI-generated pornographic videos depicting a victim with her father to her co-workers.

Causal attribution. Prosecutors' account of the offending, reported by three local newsrooms; the defendant pleaded guilty.

  • dispatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'used to harass at least six women in central Ohio between December 2024 and June 2025'; 'nude images of the victims that were both real and AI-generated'; 'used AI to create pornographic videos depicting one of the women engaged in sexual acts with her father'.
  • abc6onyourside.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'harass at least six adult female victims from December 2024 to June 2025'; 'generated pornographic videos using AI that depicted an adult victim in sexual acts with her father and sent those videos to the victim's co-workers'; 'threatened victims' mothers, demanding nude photos'; 'voicemails that included threats of rape'.
  • 10tv.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'sent harassing messages to at least six women'; 'distributed those videos to the victim's coworkers or family members'; 'threaten rape'.
Corroborated Strahler also posted AI-generated sexual images of minor boys from his community, morphing their faces onto other bodies; more than 700 images were posted to a child sexual abuse website and about 2,400 further explicit files were found on his phone.

Causal attribution. Prosecutors' account; part of the guilty plea to producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse.

  • dispatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'posted online AI-generated images of the faces of boys from his community that he would morph onto the bodies of other children or adults'; 'more than 700 images'; '2,400 images and videos on his cell phone were flagged'.
  • abc6onyourside.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'using the faces of minor boys from his community and morphing them onto the bodies of other children or adults'; 'more than 700 images'; '2,400 more flagged images and videos'.

Sources

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

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-09-18. Verbatim republication (16 Sep 2026) of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio press release; the justice.gov original (usao-sdoh/pr/columbus-man-sentenced-15-years-prison-cyberstalking-exes-creating-ai-generated) returns only a 1.5 kB shell to this host. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-09-18 (Columbus Dispatch, Shahid Meighan, 8 Sep 2026; served from the eu.dispatch.com mirror). Court reporting drawing on the USAO and court records. Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-09-18 via the MSN content API copy (WBNS 10TV, 8 Sep 2026). Adds the Hilliard Police investigative history from court records. Applies to s3.

Read in English on 2026-09-18 via the MSN content API copy (WSYX ABC6, 8 Sep 2026). Names the sentencing judge and the threats to victims' mothers. Applies to s4.

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

Event: central Ohio (Columbus/Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Delaware County) per the USAO release and Dispatch. Victims are described as women in central Ohio. Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Columbus.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-18: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact and impersonation case: identified adult women and local boys were depicted in AI-generated sexual imagery used for harassment and threats, a federal court sentenced the perpetrator, and four sources (the prosecuting office's release and three independent local newsrooms) were read. Victims are unnamed; the perpetrator is named in the court record and press.

People described

At least six adult women in central Ohio, none named in the inspected reporting, plus mothers of victims who were threatened and minor boys from the defendant's community whose faces were used in AI-generated sexual imagery

People reported harmed in this case

At least 6 people

0 AI participants · 6 other people harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

Prosecutors said Strahler harassed 'at least six' adult women (Dispatch, 10TV, ABC6). Their mothers, who were threatened, and the minor boys whose faces were used in AI-generated abuse imagery are additional harmed people without a stated count. Six counted plus unquantified others: partial.

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

Tags

#deepfake#ai-generated-imagery#ncii#cyberstalking#take-it-down-act#sextortion#united-states#ohio#criminal-conviction

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Columbus, Ohio: a man was sentenced to 15 years for cyberstalking at least six women with real and AI-generated sexual images and rape threats, the first conviction under the Take It Down Act. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-strahler-ohio-ai-deepfake-cyberstalking-take-it-down-act

BibTeX

@misc{2026_strahler_ohio_ai_deepfake_cyberstalking_take_it_down_act,
  title = {Columbus, Ohio: a man was sentenced to 15 years for cyberstalking at least six women with real and AI-generated sexual images and rape threats, the first conviction under the Take It Down Act},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-strahler-ohio-ai-deepfake-cyberstalking-take-it-down-act}
}

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