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Beulah Man Facing New Charges For Using AI To Create Child Porn
May 30, 2026
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s case against a Beulah man has expanded after the Office of the State Attorney filed additional felony counts under Florida’s new artificial intelligence child exploitation law.
Tyler Michael Vanover, 38, was originally arrested on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at his residence on Fort Deposit Drive off Bridlewood Road following an investigation into the use of artificial intelligence to generate and possess child sexual abuse material.
While initially booked on nine felonies, court records show the State Attorney’s Office added several charges on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Vanover now faces a total of 21 felony counts:
- Nine counts of generating child pornography
- Eight counts of possessing child sexual abuse material
- Three counts of possessing or soliciting child pornography
- One count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device
The newly added generation charges fall under a state statute enacted by the Florida Legislature in 2025. The law—which was heavily prompted by a Pensacola case where a student used AI to virtually undress female classmates—makes generating child pornography a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison per count.
The investigation initially began in January 2026 after the FDLE received numerous cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating that 47 files of child sexual abuse material had been uploaded to a generative AI platform. State agents traced the activity back to the IP address at Vanover’s home on Fort Deposit Drive.
During a post-arrest interview with investigators, FDLE said Vanover made a full confession, stating he had a “sick” pornography addiction that was greatly enhanced by the use of artificial intelligence.
According to an arrest report, Vanover confessed to using the Grok AI application to generate child sexual abuse material. He told investigators he would take older child sexual abuse material images he found online, input them into Grok, and instruct the AI bot to alter or generate new content. Vanover claimed he attempted to restrict the AI prompts to individuals in the 16 to 20-year-old range, but stated that the AI application would often generate images depicting much younger children.
A subsequent search of Vanover’s laptop by investigators uncovered multiple files of child sexual abuse material, including files depicting a nude female estimated to be between 9 and 11 years of age in a lewd and lascivious manner.
Vanover remains held in the Escambia County Jail.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Office of Agriculture Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations all assisted the FDLE with the execution of the initial search warrant.
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