STUART, Fla. — A Martin County judge has ordered a sentence equal to life in prison for a man who used artificial intelligence to create child pornography, a case the Martin County Sheriff's Office said it had never seen at that time.
Daniel Warren was charged with 75 felony counts of possession of child pornography and seven felony counts of video voyeurism for using AI to create child pornography.
WATCH REPORT BELOW:
"His innocent neighbors, whose parents trusted him to be appropriate with their children, he was taking covert photos of them and then asking for those children to be transformed into some sexualized image which he shared with others," prosecutor Kristen Chase said.
Warren was arrested for these crimes in 2024. At the time, the Martin County Sheriff's Office said it was their first case involving AI and child exploitation.
A man who identified himself as an extended family member testified before the judge Wednesday.
"That would be a detriment to the children to have this man even anywhere near a child," the extended family member said.
Before sentencing, Warren showed some remorse.
"My entire community, [I] basically destroyed every friendship I've built," Warren said. "I dwell on it every night."
When his defense attorney asked whether he dwells on the decisions he made, Warren said, "Absolutely."
After listening to the testimony, Judge Elizabeth Metzger decided it was not appropriate to grant a lesser sentence and opted for the minimum allowable sentence by law, at just over 1,000 months per count.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
