Missouri sex offender pleads guilty to AI generation of hundreds of child abuse images

A Missouri sex offender on supervised release pled guilty last week to promoting AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in social media.

Joel Kerbrat, 70, from Farmington, Missouri south of St. Louis was convicted of possession of child pornography in 2010, for which he served over five years in prison and was released under supervision for life.

Kerbrat was required to keep his registration as a sex offender updated, including making his offender status clear on all social media and internet accounts. The Eastern District of Missouri U.S. Attorney’s Office reported he had an email address as well as Discord and LiveChat accounts, all of which he failed to report to authorities as required.

As part of his plea agreement, he admitted to using the internet accounts for an AI program to produce 52 CSAM images, 251 images of “potential CSAM” involving teenage girls, hundreds of images of nude children and thousands of adult pornography depictions.

Kerbrat’s Discord account was used to join a group where AI-generated pornography was discussed and promoted. He also had a profile for an AI-generated teenage girl.

Kerbrat’s federal probation officer found a laptop and cell phone in “plain view” during one of his home visits in July 2024. The officer found the AI program and teen profile on the laptop and forensic examinations of the devices revealed the other accounts.

Kerbrat faces up to 10 years in prison from a failure to register charge and will be sentenced on June 15.