COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus man pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to cybercrime charges where he distributed real and AI-generated sexually explicit images and threatened several people.
James Strahler II, 37, was convicted of cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries.
According to United States Attorney Dominick Gerace II’s office, Strahler is the first person in the country to be convicted of violating the Take It Down Act. The act was signed into law in May 2025. It prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated…