White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Wednesday that federal authorities have secured their first conviction under the Take It Down Act, legislation supported by First Lady Melania Trump that targets the creation and distribution of non-consensual explicit imagery created with artificial intelligence.
“This is a huge achievement for the first lady [Melania Trump], and I know the President is very proud of his wife’s efforts in getting this critical legislation passed to protect America’s youth. So, we thank the first lady for her efforts,” Leavitt said.
James Strahler II, a 37-year-old Ohio resident, entered guilty pleas Tuesday to charges including cyberstalking, creating obscene child sexual abuse material, and distributing digital forgeries—the legal terminology for deepfake content, according to a Justice Department announcement released Tuesday. Federal investigators say Strahler employed artificial intelligence technology to produce non-consensual imagery targeting both adults and children.
Law enforcement officials report that Strahler’s arrest occurred in June 2025, and their investigation uncovered thousands of digitally manipulated images where children’s faces were superimposed onto adult or other children’s bodies for sexual exploitation purposes.
The White House press secretary characterized this prosecution as a landmark moment for the new federal legislation, which makes it a federal crime to distribute non-consensual sexual content, including artificially generated material and violent threats.
First Lady Melania Trump acknowledged the conviction through a social media post on X, stating: “Today marks the first conviction under the Take It Down Act–protecting victims from non-consensual AI-generated sexually explicit images, cyberstalking, and threats of violence.”
“Thank you US Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II for protecting Americans from cybercrimes in this new digital age,” she added.
The First Lady personally visited Capitol Hill last year to lobby for the legislation, which specifically addresses revenge pornography and artificially generated child sexual abuse content. The measure received overwhelming bipartisan support, passing the House of Representatives with a 409-2 margin and receiving unanimous approval in the Senate.
According to Leavitt, this conviction marks an important milestone in combating online exploitation and safeguarding victims amid what she characterized as an increasingly dangerous digital landscape.
