A Montgomery County man has been arrested again for allegedly using artificial intelligence to depict a teenage girl as naked.
On March 11, 31-year-old Roman Shoffner was arrested on felony warrants of possession of child pornography. According to a press release from Mongomery County Sheriff’s Office, Shoffner was a “top 10 fugitive” at the time of his capture.
The new charges stemmed from a 2024 incident where images were found on his phone depicting a 17-year-old girl modified to have her clothes removed.
OUR FIRST REPORT: Man arrested for using artificial intelligence to undress teen in Montgomery County
According to court documents, the images were first discovered by Shoffner’s wife, who went through his phone under suspicion of infidelity. On the phone, she found images from a party that the couple had attended earlier that day. One of the images was of a group of people that included her teenage relative. It had been screenshotted and used in an AI application to show the girl isolated and without clothes.
The wife was furious and horrified by the revelation, and she immediately notified the victim’s mother, who was eager to press charges.
In an interview with authorities during the initial investigation, Shoffner said he had used the AI function on the photo out of curiosity of “how far AI had come.” He also said he did not realize the victim was underage.
It’s unclear whether Shoffner was released on bail or what circumstances led to the new arrest.
Earlier today, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released a statement regarding the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 20, a bill creating a new state felony offense for possession of AI-generated sexual material depicting children.
“As Texas enters the digital age, our state must be very careful about our approach to artificial intelligence. With the proliferation of AI-generated pornography, steps must be taken to protect Texans, and specifically children, from harmful computer-generated content and the crimes that arise from it,” Lt. Gov. Patrick said in the statement.
