GILMER COUNTY, Ga. — A North Georgia man who has already been indicted on more than 70 charges of using artificial intelligence to make images of minors appear naked is now facing 120 additional charges.
Ronald Richardson, 48, was arrested in January after investigators found evidence that he was using AI to make normal photos into child porn.
A student at Gilmer High School told a school resource officer on Dec. 3 that Richardson, who filled the vending machines at the school, had asked her to send him pictures through a social media app. She told the SRO she felt that was inappropriate.
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According to deputies, the student told the SRO that she would talk to Richardson regularly when he was at the school and had done so for a year. She said Richardson would often give her free soft drinks, but this was the first time she had been asked to send him pictures.
Sheriff Stacy Nicholson told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims this is the first case where AI has been a component of an investigation for the sheriff’s office.
“Unfortunately, I doubt it will be the last,” Nicholson said. “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.”
Richardson was initially indicted on April 16 in Gilmer County. He was indicted on the additional charges last week.
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia requested that the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office serve as the prosecutor in this case.
Richardson is scheduled to be arraigned on his new charges on Aug. 5.
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