First ‘Take It Down Act’ Sentencing Puts Man Behind Bars for 15 Years

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio, 38 year old Ohio man James Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “cybercrimes that included both real and AI-generated sexually explicit images and threats of violence to numerous victims.”

Strahler created “more than 700 images of both real victims and animated persons and posted them to a website dedicated to child sexual abuse,” according to the Attorney’s Office. “An additional 2,400 images and videos on his phone were flagged as depicting nudity, morphed child sexual abuse material or violence.” He created and posted AI-generated images of minor boys “from his community,” showing them engaged in sex acts with their mothers and grandmothers.

Investigators found another 2,400 images and videos on his phone depicting “nudity, morphed child sexual abuse material or violence.”

Strahler admitted to local police that he sent the content in early 2025, after a woman reported to police that she and her mother received 31 calls and texts in nine days, including “threats of sexual assault, extortion and images of the woman changing clothes and using the bathroom inside her home,” the Columbus Dispatch reported. “Court records say other messages included photos created with AI showing the woman engaged in sexual conduct with multiple men, including male relatives.”

According to the Dispatch, Strahler had multiple accounts on removed to post images and videos of victims. Dutch authorities took Motherless, which is based in the Netherlands, offline in May following a CNN investigation into sexual abuse material on the site; in

The Take it Down Act went into effect in May, between Strahler’s first arrest and his eventual federal charges. On January 5, following the first woman’s reports, he was charged with several misdemeanors before being released. Once out of jail, he continued stalking and harassing his victims, court records show. Police brought additional misdemeanor charges against Strahler in April, and he pleaded guilty to cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publication of digital forgeries. He was arrested and posted a $50,000 bond. In June, more women reported being harassed by Strahler, and police turned the case over to the FBI, and he was arrested on federal charges.