Vendor at north Georgia high school arrested after allegedly using AI to create sexually explicit photos of minors

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A vendor at Gilmer High School in Ellijay was arrested after he allegedly used artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit photos of minors, according to the sheriff.

Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson said Wednesday that Ronald Richardson, who refilled the vending machines at the school, has been arrested on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Nicholson said his office started investigating Richardson on Dec. 3, after a student told a deputy that Richardson asked her to send him pictures through a social media app.

The sheriff said investigators then found edited images of children’s pictures that Richardson took from social media pages. He allegedly used AI to alter them to make them appear nude.

“This is the first case in which artificial intelligence (AI) has factored into an investigation like this for the Gilmer Sheriff’s Office,” Nicholson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I doubt it will be the last. All of the sexually explicit (nude) photographs of the minor children that Richardson is alleged to have possessed are actually normal snapshots which he captured from various social media pages and then altered (or had altered) using AI to make the images appear nude.”

He said his office is continuing to notify parents if their child’s image comes up in their ongoing investigation.

“It has taken a lot of time to identify many of the minors who are victims in this case and there are several minors and parents who we have not been able to notify at this point,” he said. “We hope to have all victims and parents notified within the next 48 hours.”

Nicholson said it’s expected that Richardson will be charged with more counts of sexual exploitation of children as more victims are identified. He said Richardson remains in jail.

The Gilmer County School System said it will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation and commended the sheriff’s office “for their professionalism and dedication” in the case.

“Mr. Richardson is not an employee of the Gilmer County School System,” the district said in a statement.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Dan Farnham with the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office at (706) 635-4646.