{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0739","record_version":1,"title":"Ohio man convicted under Take It Down Act for AI deepfakes and harassment","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":42.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.24,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"9d010ba500c2894ce922a5ce204b769b1d7f701e4d258cbbaf70534e1f1268ea"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-09-08","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"human_misuse","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"The incident concerns James Strahler II, a Columbus, Ohio man who installed more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 web-based AI models on his phone. Officials said he used phone calls, voicemails, text messages and online posts to harass victims, sending harassing messages to at least six adult women from December 2024 through June 2025. The messages included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated. Prosecutors said he also posted AI-generated obscene images of children online. His conduct was first reported to Hilliard police and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office before being referred to the FBI, and he was arrested on federal charges in June 2025. He pleaded guilty to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, and publication of digital forgeries, the last falling under the Take It Down Act. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"Test applied: major, a stated count of two or more affected parties. Fact: the sources state messages were sent to at least six victims.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-man-first-in-nation-convicted-ai-deepfakes-law-sentenced/73645490","publisher":"WLWT","date":"2026-09-08","type":"press","title":"Ohio man first in nation convicted under new law targeting AI deepfakes learns sentence - WLWT","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.trigger":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.trigger":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officials said he used phone calls, voicemails, text messages and online posts to harass victims."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Authorities said Strahler created more than 700 images of real victims and animated people and posted them to a website dedicated to child sexual abuse."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officials said Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six victims, all adult women, from December 2024 through June 2025."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officials said Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six victims, all adult women, from December 2024 through June 2025."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to prosecutors, Strahler installed more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 web-based AI models on his phone."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officials said he used phone calls, voicemails, text messages and online posts to harass victims."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Officials said Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six victims, all adult women, from December 2024 through June 2025."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The messages included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Prosecutors said Strahler also posted AI-generated obscene images of children online, using the faces of boys from his community."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Strahler’s criminal conduct was first reported to Hilliard police and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office before being referred to the FBI."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"He was arrested on federal charges in June 2025."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The DOJ said his conviction on the digital forgery charge falls under the Take It Down Act."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (WLWT) reporting DOJ and prosecutor statements. No AI developer, model names, harness, or deployment context is stated, so system fields are omitted. The sources describe a person using commercially available AI tools; no autonomous agent is described, so agent_involved and failure fields are omitted. No provider, developer, or deployer remediation is stated. Exact occurrence date is not stated (a range Dec 2024 to Jun 2025 only), so date_occurred is omitted. Disclosure and detection dates and detection method are not stated; the article date is publication, not disclosure. Trigger human_misuse is my reading of the stated conduct. Severity major is my judgement: the stated count of at least six affected victims meets the test; the count of 6 is a stated lower bound. Harm classes privacy and reputational are my judgement from the nonconsensual intimate images and harassment. Sentence and plea dates are relative to the article ('earlier this year'), so timeline when is null. Adversarial actor is not recorded because the source does not classify it. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Officials said he sent harassing messages to at least six adult women from December 2024 through June 2025.","quote":"Officials said Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six victims, all adult women, from December 2024 through June 2025.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The messages included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated.","quote":"The messages included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"His conduct was first reported to local police and the sheriff's office, then referred to the FBI.","quote":"Strahler’s criminal conduct was first reported to Hilliard police and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office before being referred to the FBI.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.","quote":"Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-man-first-in-nation-convicted-ai-deepfakes-law-sentenced/73645490"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Harassing messages sent to at least six adult women.","quote":"Officials said Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six victims, all adult women, from December 2024 through June 2025.","source_index":0,"when":"December 2024 through June 2025"},{"text":"Conduct first reported to local police and the sheriff's office, then referred to the FBI.","quote":"Strahler’s criminal conduct was first reported to Hilliard police and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office before being referred to the FBI.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Arrested on federal charges.","quote":"He was arrested on federal charges in June 2025.","source_index":0,"when":"June 2025"},{"text":"Pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to cybercrimes; the article says this was earlier in the year of publication.","quote":"James Strahler II, 37, of Columbus, pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court to cybercrimes involving both real and AI-generated sexually explicit images, as well as threats of violence against multiple victims, officials said.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Sentenced to 15 years in prison.","quote":"Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-man-first-in-nation-convicted-ai-deepfakes-law-sentenced/73645490"]}}