{"id":239957,"date":"2026-04-21T05:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239957\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T05:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:03:09","slug":"man-sent-teen-coworker-ai-altered-nude-pic-said-i-know-youre-still-a-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239957\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sent teen coworker AI-altered nude pic, said ‘I know you’re still a minor’"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Broward County man has been arrested and faces multiple charges after investigators say he used AI to create and send a nude image of a teenage coworker and then tried to coerce her with money and messages, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The affidavit says deputies were called after a 17-year-old employee at Boca West Country Club<\/a> reported that a coworker had obtained her Instagram account several months earlier and began sending increasingly sexual messages. The charging documents allege the coworker sent the victim an image that had been AI-edited from one of her TikTok <\/a>videos \u2014 showing her face on an adult nude body \u2014 and threatened to \u201cexpose\u201d the images if she did not resume contact.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/p>\n

Thomas Ball of Coral Springs is accused of sending a teen an image that had been AI-edited from one of her TikTok videos \u2014 showing her face on an adult nude body \u2014 and threatened to \u201cexpose\u201d the images if she did not resume contact. (PBSO)<\/p>\n

Investigators say the messaging escalated on March 8, 2026, when the suspect allegedly sent the flagged image via Instagram\u2019s vanish mode. The teen told deputies she identified the image as a screenshot from a TikTok video she had posted in 2023 when she was about 13 or 14; she said the AI-generated edit showed breasts and genitalia that were not hers.<\/p>\n

The affidavit reports the suspect acknowledged he knew she was a minor, writing, \u201cI know you\u2019re still a minor,\u201d and at other times saying, \u201cI love you,\u201d and that he \u201cthought of her as a daughter.\u201d The suspect also reportedly tried to lure her with money, first offering \u201c$200\u201d and later saying he would give her \u201c$1,000,\u201d and wrote that if he \u201ccould get her nails and feet done, she would never hear from him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documents include additional alleged messages in which the suspect wrote that the police \u201ccan get it,\u201d and at other moments denied wrongdoing with lines such as, \u201cI didn\u2019t do what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d The affidavit says he also claimed to have \u201cfound a lot of pictures\u201d of the victim online and told her he had a picture he \u201cwon\u2019t show.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: Road rage turns fatal as FedEx employee shot, killed at Riviera Beach facility<\/a><\/p>\n

According to investigators, the suspect continued contacting the victim after she blocked him, switching to other phone numbers and messaging platforms including SMS and WhatsApp. Records reviewed by investigators reportedly linked one of the phone numbers used to a TMobile account registered to the suspect. The victim provided screenshots, text threads, Zelle transaction records and the AI image itself to deputies.<\/p>\n

The affidavit also notes a separate March incident in which police in Sunrise reportedly responded after a friend said the suspect had sought a firearm; officers there reported he was taken for evaluation under the Baker Act on March 12 after threatening people while intoxicated.<\/p>\n

Palm Beach County detectives say their review of the evidence produced probable cause to arrest the man on charges including altered sexual depictions of an identifiable person, transmission of harmful material to a minor, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. The victim described significant emotional effects from the incident, including anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbances, and fear of encountering the suspect.<\/p>\n

Bond for Ball was set at $75,000.<\/p>\n

A representative for the Palm Beach County Sheriff\u2019s Office confirmed the arrest. The case remains under investigation and will be prosecuted by the State Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Broward County man has been arrested and faces multiple charges after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-239957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}