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High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

Carrizo Springs, Texas: a man was arrested in May 2026 after investigators say he used AI tools to turn photos from South Texas school pages into nude images of about 30 children, among more than 900 AI-generated abuse images and videos

Texas DPS announced on 29 May 2026 that a 31-year-old man from Carrizo Springs, Dimmit County, had been arrested and booked into the county jail on 19 May 2026 on a charge of possession of computer-generated child pornography, a charge DPS says was made possible by Texas Senate Bill 20. According to DPS, FBI agents in Del Rio searched his home in April 2026 and seized devices (DPS says with consent; ABC13 says under a search warrant) holding more than 900 AI-generated sexual images and videos of prepubescent and pubescent children that he had created, as well as non-AI sexual images of children. Investigators say he took photos of children from publicly accessible pages affiliated with South Texas schools and used AI tools to make nude images of them, and that about 30 child victims had been identified. The FBI is coordinating victim services. The allegations are charges; no later court development was found.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
Apr 2026
Reported
29 May 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
Education · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
2 claims: 2 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: AI image-manipulation ('nudify') tools, unidentified

What Happened

The Texas Department of Public Safety's Criminal Investigations Division announced the arrest in news release HQ 2026-054 on 29 May 2026, in coordination with the FBI and the Dimmit County Sheriff's Office, crediting the Maverick County District Attorney's Office with pursuing the state charges. The release says that in April 2026, during a months-long investigation into AI-generated child sexual abuse material, FBI Del Rio received consent to search and seize electronic devices at the man's Carrizo Springs residence. Agents identified more than 900 images and videos of AI-generated sexual imagery he created, depicting prepubescent and pubescent children, and multiple non-AI-generated sexual images of children. Further investigation, DPS says, established that he took photos from open-source pages affiliated with South Texas schools and manipulated them with AI tools to 'nudify' the children; approximately 30 child victims had been identified. He was booked into the Dimmit County Jail on 19 May 2026 for possession of computer-generated child pornography, which the release calls a first-degree felony, while its note on Senate Bill 20 describes the new offence as a state jail felony. DPS CID Chief Floyd Goodwin said 'some will use these tools for evil' and urged parents to talk to their children; FBI San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Daniel Faith said offenders exploit tools including AI to produce child sexual abuse material. ABC13 Houston (31 May) relayed the release, describing the April action as a search warrant; FOX 7 Austin (2 June) relayed it and said the investigation remained ongoing. The AI software is not identified in any inspected source.

Reported harm

Texas DPS says photos of about 30 identified children, taken from pages affiliated with South Texas schools, were altered with AI tools into nude and sexual images, among more than 900 AI-generated abuse images and videos found on the accused's devices (DPS release, relayed by ABC13 and FOX 7). These are law-enforcement allegations awaiting trial; no effect on the children beyond the depiction is reported.

Outcome

Ongoing

April 2026: FBI Del Rio searched the residence in Carrizo Springs with consent and seized devices (DPS; ABC13 says a search warrant was executed). 19 May 2026: arrested by DPS CID special agents and booked into the Dimmit County Jail on a charge of possession of computer-generated child pornography, made chargeable by Texas Senate Bill 20; state charges pursued with the Maverick County District Attorney's Office. 29 May 2026: DPS announced the arrest. 2 June 2026: FOX 7 reported the investigation as ongoing. No later court development was found on 28 September 2026.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tools or services were used; DPS refers only to AI tools used to "nudify" the children.
  • Whether any of the altered images were shared beyond the seized devices; none of the inspected sources says so.
  • Which schools' pages the photos came from, and whether the approximately 30 identified children or their families have been notified; DPS says the FBI is coordinating victim services.
  • The later course of the prosecution (indictment, plea or trial); no report after 2 June 2026 was found on 2026-09-28.
  • Whether the charge is a first-degree felony as DPS states for this arrest, or a state jail felony as the same release describes the new SB 20 offence.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The DPS release says the images and videos were AI-generated and that the accused used AI tools to 'nudify' photos of children; these are law-enforcement statements relayed by two TV stations, not court findings, and the tools are not named.

2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Texas DPS announced on 29 May 2026 that a 31-year-old Carrizo Springs man had been arrested and booked into the Dimmit County Jail on 19 May 2026, charged with possession of computer-generated child pornography under Texas Senate Bill 20, after an investigation with the FBI and the Dimmit County Sheriff's Office; DPS says FBI Del Rio searched his residence and seized electronic devices in April 2026, finding more than 900 images and videos of AI-generated sexual imagery of prepubescent and pubescent children that he created, plus multiple non-AI-generated sexual images of children.

Causal attribution. Law-enforcement statements in the DPS release, relayed by two TV stations from the same release; charges only, no court findings. ABC13 describes a search warrant where the release describes consent to search.

  • dps.texas.gov(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'In April 2026, as part of a months-long AI-generated child pornography investigation, FBI Del Rio received consent to search and seize electronic devices at'; 'FBI Agents identified more than 900 images and videos containing AI-generated pornographic images created by'; 'depicting both prepubescent and pubescent children. Multiple non-AI-generated pornographic images of children were also identified in the seized digital evidence.'; 'was arrested and then booked into the Dimmit Co. Jail on May 19, 2026, for possession of computer-generated child pornography'
  • abc13.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'the FBI Del Rio Office executed a search warrant at'; 'FBI investigators said they found more than 900 images and videos containing AI-generated pornographic images allegedly created by'
  • fox7austin.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was arrested on May 19, 2026, and booked into the Dimmit County Jail'; 'seized electronic devices that allegedly contained more than 900 AI-generated child sexual abuse images and videos that depicted both prepubescent and pubescent children.'
Reported DPS says investigators determined that the man took photos from open-source pages affiliated with South Texas schools and used AI tools to "nudify" the children, and that approximately 30 child victims had been identified by 29 May 2026.

Causal attribution. DPS attribution of the method and victim identification; the AI tools are not named and the allegation has not been tested in court.

  • dps.texas.gov(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'had taken photos from open-source pages affiliated with South Texas schools and manipulated them through AI tools to "nudify" the children. To date, approximately 30 child victims have been identified as part of this investigation.'
  • fox7austin.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'allegedly downloaded photographs from publicly accessible social media and other online pages affiliated with South Texas schools and used artificial intelligence software to create nude images of children.'; 'Authorities said approximately 30 child victims have been identified so far.'
  • abc13.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'allegedly took photos from websites associated with nearby schools and manipulated them through AI tools. DPS said they identified about 30 child victims.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Texas Department of Public Safety news release HQ 2026-054, 29 May 2026. The live URL timed out from this host on 2026-09-28 (no HTTP response); read in full from the Internet Archive capture of 6 June 2026 (web.archive.org/web/20260606045708id_/...). Law-enforcement allegations; no court findings. Applies to s1.

ABC13 Houston (KTRK), 31 May 2026, read live on 2026-09-28 (HTTP 200). Relays the DPS release ("according to DPS"); says the FBI executed a search warrant, where the release says agents received consent to search. Applies to s2.

FOX 7 Austin, 2 June 2026, read live on 2026-09-28 (HTTP 200). States that its information was provided by the Texas DPS; adds that the investigation remains ongoing. Applies to s3.

KENS5 San Antonio, 29 May 2026 (a historical source of the row). HTTP 403 live on 2026-09-28; the only Internet Archive capture (31 May 2026) also recorded a 403. Not read. Applies to s4.

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

DPS places the search and the accused's residence in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and the booking at the Dimmit County Jail; the photos came from pages affiliated with South Texas schools, so the depicted children are described as South Texas schoolchildren. The state charges are pursued in Texas.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-28: Restored under the 2026-09-15 charter as a depicted-minor case with a criminal charge announced by Texas DPS and relayed by two TV stations from the same release; the allegations are recorded as reported. The original ID and first-publication timestamp are preserved; the accused and the children are not named in the public text.

People described

About 30 identified children, prepubescent and pubescent, whose photos on pages affiliated with South Texas schools were allegedly altered into nude images; not named

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

DPS says 'approximately 30 child victims have been identified'. An approximate figure is not a lower bound, so no minimum is recorded; images are not counted as people.

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

Tags

#csam#deepfake#school-photos#criminal-charges#texas#sb-20

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Carrizo Springs, Texas: a man was arrested in May 2026 after investigators say he used AI tools to turn photos from South Texas school pages into nude images of about 30 children, among more than 900 AI-generated abuse images and videos. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-texas-covarrubias-ai-csam

BibTeX

@misc{2026_texas_covarrubias_ai_csam,
  title = {Carrizo Springs, Texas: a man was arrested in May 2026 after investigators say he used AI tools to turn photos from South Texas school pages into nude images of about 30 children, among more than 900 AI-generated abuse images and videos},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-texas-covarrubias-ai-csam}
}

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