BALTIMORE, MD—The man who used artificial intelligence to fake the voice of Pikesville High School’s principal in a racist tirade last year has been arrested on child pornography charges.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland has filed a federal criminal complaint charging Dazhon Darien, 32, of Baltimore, with sexual exploitation of a child and receiving child sexual abuse material.

Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the complaint with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office, and Chief Robert McCullough, Baltimore County Police Department.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, investigators obtained search warrants for Darien’s phones and online accounts which contained child sexual abuse material. Additionally, the affidavit further describes how Darien, a former BCPS athletic director, used CashApp to pay a minor victim to send videos of himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Darien paid the victim for the videos between December 2023 and March 2024. The affidavit also shows that Darien received other child-sexual-abuse-material files, including some that depicted prepubescent minors.

If convicted, Darien faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years or a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child. Additionally, Darien could receive a mandatory minimum sentence of five years or a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for receipt of child sexual abuse material. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge determines sentencing after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In April 2024, Darien was arrested on charges of stalking, theft, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness. The charges stemmed from an investigation detectives with the Baltimore County Police Department launched on January 17, 2024, in reference to a racist rant that was being circulated on social media. At the time, it was alleged that the voice on the audio file was that of Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert.  It was later determined that Darien had used AI to create the audio file.

This latest case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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