Ohio man first person in US convicted under new federal deepfakes law
COLUMBUS, OH — An Ohio man is believed to be the first person in the nation to be convicted under a new federal law for using AI-generated, sexually explicit images of women to intimidate and harass them, prosecutors said.
James Strahler, 37, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, April 7, to cyberstalking, producing obscene visuals of child sexual abuse material, and publishing digital forgeries, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. His conviction for the publication of digital forgeries is covered under the Take It Down Act, which was enacted in 2025 by federal lawmakers and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Dominick Gerace, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said his office believes Strahler is the first person to be convicted under a provision of the Take It Down Act. Strahler will be sentenced at a later date, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
"We will not tolerate the abhorrent practice of posting and publicizing AI-generated intimate images of real individuals without consent," Gerace said in a statement. "We are committed to using every tool at our disposal to hold accountable offenders like Strahler."
Prosecutors accused Strahler of using AI to create non-consensual images and videos of adult women and minors. He generated over 700 images of both real victims and animated people and also sent harassing messages to his adult victims, according to prosecutors.
His criminal conduct was first reported to the Hilliard Police Department and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office before the case was referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said. Strahler was later arrested on federal charges in June 2025.
Court records: Ohio man created sexually explicit deepfakes of women, boys
According to court records, Strahler had more than 24 AI platforms and 100 AI web-based models installed or downloaded on his phone. He would use phone calls, messages, and online postings to harass the women.
Court records stated that from December 2024 to June 2025, Strahler sent messages to at least six adult females, including three former romantic partners, that included both real and AI-generated nude images.
In one instance, Strahler created a video using AI to show one of the victims engaged in sexual acts with her father, which Strahler then sent to the victim's coworkers, according to court records. Strahler would also message the women's mothers and demand nude photographs in exchange for not circulating explicit images that he would create.
Strahler also left voicemails for the victims, including threats of sexual assault, and would refer to specific details that told the victims he knew where they lived, court records state.
According to court records, Strahler posted online AI-generated images of boys' faces from his community that he would morph onto the bodies of other children or adults, as well as videos he created. Court records state that the videos included the boys engaged in sexual activity with older female relatives.
More than 700 images of real people and animated people were created by Strahler and posted to a website that was dedicated to child sexual abuse material, according to court records. An additional 2,400 images and videos found on his phone were flagged as having nudity, violence, and/or morphed child sexual abuse material.
In January 2025, Strahler had been charged in Franklin County Municipal Court with similar alleged conduct and was on pretrial release for those charges at the time federal charges were filed in June 2025.
What is the Take It Down Act?
While most states have laws protecting people from non-consensual intimate images and sexual deepfakes, the legislation varies in the classification of crime and penalty. In recent years, victims have struggled to have images depicting them removed from websites, increasing the likelihood of images being continuously spread and victims becoming retraumatized.
The Take It Down Act criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, also known as NCII. That includes AI-generated images, also referred to as deepfake revenge pornography. The law also requires social media platforms and similar websites to remove revenge pornography content within 48 hours of notice from a victim.
The legislation was introduced by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota in 2024 and received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate and House.
First lady Melania Trump had heavily lobbied for the Take It Down Act, arguing that it protects individual privacy through strict ethical standards and robust security measures. In May 2025, the first lady made a rare White House appearance alongside the president to sign the "Take it Down Act" into law.
Contributing: Maria Francis, Kinsey Crowley, and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY Network