A man has been arrested in Lake Charles on more than 105 felony counts related to child pornography and unlawful deepfakes, according to the Louisiana Attorney General's Office.
Agents with Attorney General Liz Murrill's Louisiana Bureau of Investigation took 31-year-old Tyler Quentin Landry of Lake Charles into custody after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a statement from her office.
Landry has been charged with 105 counts of possessing pornography involving juveniles under 13, three counts of distributing pornography involving juveniles and one count of unlawful deepfake.
"If you hurt our kids, you're going to jail," Murrill said after the arrest. "We will not tolerate this in Louisiana."
A deepfake, as defined by Louisiana law, is a video or image that is created, altered or digitally manipulated in a way that appears to authentically depict the subject in the material. These images and videos are typically created through generative AI programs.
In addition to LBI, the investigation involved the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations.
Landry has been booked into the Calcasieu Parish Jail, with his bond set at $1.42 million. Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing.
Louisiana's unlawful deepfake law was created in 2023 and allows law enforcement to charge people who knowingly create or possess an image or video that is a deepfake depicting a minor engaging in sexual conduct. It also allows charges to be brought if a person advertises, distributes, promotes or sells deepfake material that depicts a minor engaging in sexual conduct or depicts an adult in a sexual manner in without their consent.
If convicted of having or creating material depicting a minor, a person can spend a minimum of five years in prison with a maximum sentence of 20 years and be fined up to $10,000.
If the person is convicted of distributing deepfake material depicting an adult without their consent or a minor engaging in sexual content, they can spend a minimum of 10 years in prison with a maximum sentence of 30 years and a $50,000 fine.
Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have been cracking down on the spread of child sexual abuse material created through artificial intelligence.
In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 4,700 CyberTipline reports of child sexual abuse material or sexually exploitative content that involved generative AI technology.
"The creation and circulation of (generative AI child sexual abuse material) is harmful and illegal," the center said in a statement. "Even the images that do not depict a real child put a strain on law enforcement resources and impede identification of real child victims.
