A Central Florida man was charged for using AI to create disturbing images that were found on his phone.
The Central Florida investigation into the man began last month when a woman reported finding the disturbing images on his phone.
After a forensic analysis of 47-year-old Steven Gugel’s cell phone, Polk County Sheriff’s Cyber Crime detectives filed felony charges against him.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes detectives arrested 47-year-old Steven Gugel, of Mulberry, and charged him with multiple counts of generating altered sex depiction without consent and multiple counts of creating generated child pornography after locating images on his cell phone that he created using real juvenile victims. More felonies were added on after analysis of his cell phone, bringing his total charge count to 24 felonies.
The woman who saw the disturbing images on his phone told detectives that she sometimes checked his phone due to the fact that she knows he looks at pornography. When she went into the phone’s folders, she found images of three girls (children) that Gugel has access to; the images appeared to be manipulated by artificial intelligence, placing their faces onto nude adult bodies displayed in lewd manners.
Local detectives interviewed Gugel and he admitted to using an AI program to alter the images to depict the children as having adult nude women’s bodies. Detectives seized his phone for further forensic analysis.
“This is a disgusting example for those who think putting the faces of children onto already-existing sexually explicit pornography is harmless and not against the law,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
