Columbus man sentenced to 15 years in prison for cyberstalking exes, creating AI-generated obscene material of adults & children

COLUMBUS, Ohio - James Strahler II, 37, of Columbus, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 180 months in prison for cybercrimes that included both real and AI-generated sexually explicit images and threats of violence to numerous victims.

Strahler had installed more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 AI web-based models on his phone. The defendant used telephone calls, voicemails, text messages and web postings to engage in a campaign of harassment against his victims.

Strahler pleaded guilty in April to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries. His conviction of publication of digital forgeries is part of the Take It Down Act, a law enacted in 2025 that prohibits non-consensual online publication of intimate visual depictions and AI forgeries.

"I'm proud of my Office's prosecution of this case-the first in the Nation under the Take It Down Act," said U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. "Thanks to this new law, we can now show offenders like Strahler that they will not get away with producing and posting disturbing AI-generated content. Today's sentence should serve as a warning that significant prison time will result from this repulsive conduct."

"The Take It Down Act was enacted to protect innocent victims from AI-generated deepfakes or intimate images shared online without permission," stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie. "The FBI will continue to investigate these digital crimes used to harm real people and ensure offenders are brought to justice."

"This case demonstrates the importance of taking these types of crimes seriously and working together to protect victims and hold offenders accountable," said Hilliard Police Chief Mike Woods. "We are proud of the work our officers and detectives did to help bring this case forward and grateful to our federal and local partners for seeing it through to justice."

From December 2024 until June 2025, Strahler sent harassing messages to at least six adult female victims. These messages included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated.

For example, Strahler used AI to create pornographic videos depicting at least one adult victim engaged in sex acts with her father. He then distributed those videos to the victim's co-workers. He also messaged the mothers of the adult females and demanded nude photos of them, threatening to circulate explicit or obscene images he created of their daughters if they did not comply. He often called the victims and left voicemails of him masturbating or threatening rape. He referred to the victims' specific home addresses in his threats.

Strahler also posted online AI-generated obscenities he created of children. He generated these files using the faces of minor boys from his community. He then morphed the face of the minor boys onto the bodies of other adults or children and created videos that depicted the boys engaged in sex acts. Strahler specifically created AI-generated obscenity of the minor boys having sex with their mothers and/or grandmothers.

Strahler created more than 700 images of both real victims and animated persons and posted them to a website dedicated to child sexual abuse. An additional 2,400 images and videos on his phone were flagged as depicting nudity, morphed child sexual abuse material or violence.

Strahler's criminal conduct was first reported to the Hilliard Police Department and the Delaware County Sheriff's Office before being referred to the FBI. He was arrested on federal charges in June 2025.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Hilliard Police Chief Mike Woods and officials with the Maryland AI and Synthetic Media Threats Task Force (MASTTF); announced the sentence imposed today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sarah D. Morrison. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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