A man identified by the Columbus Dispatch as an Upper Arlington resident will spend 15 years in federal prison for cyberstalking women and creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sarah D. Morrison sentenced James Strahler II, 37, to 180 months on Sept. 8, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. The U.S. Attorney's Office identified Strahler as a Columbus resident. U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II called it the nation's first conviction under the Take It Down Act.

Strahler pleaded guilty in April to three charges: cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and publishing digital forgeries.

The case has a direct local connection. It began when a victim contacted the Hilliard Police Department about threatening and harassing messages she and her mother received, according to 10TV. Those messages included both real and AI-generated nude photos of the victim. Strahler was charged locally and released.

Three months later, the same victim contacted Hilliard police again after receiving similar messages from an unknown number. Investigators obtained a search warrant for Strahler's phone, which revealed calls, messages and images used to harass the victim and others. The FBI arrested Strahler in June 2025.

Prosecutors said Strahler used more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 web-based AI models to harass at least six adult female victims between December 2024 and June 2025. He left voicemails that included threats of rape, referred to victims' exact addresses and sent AI-generated pornographic videos to a victim's co-workers, according to WSYX.

Investigators also found Strahler had posted AI-generated obscene images of children online. He used the faces of minor boys from his community and morphed them onto other bodies in sexual acts. Authorities discovered more than 700 such images posted to a website and 2,400 additional flagged images and videos on his phone.

"We believe Strahler is the first person in the United States to be convicted under the Take It Down Act," Gerace said in a statement. "We will not tolerate the abhorrent practice of posting and publicizing AI-generated intimate images of real individuals without consent."

The Take It Down Act, signed into law on May 19, 2025, bans the nonconsensual online publication of intimate images and AI-generated forgeries. The digital forgery charge against Strahler falls specifically under that law.

Hilliard Police Chief Mike Woods said the case showed the importance of agencies working together to protect victims. The Delaware County Sheriff's Office also assisted before the FBI took over the investigation.

No statement from Strahler's defense attorney appeared in public records as of the sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Czerniejewski prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative targeting online child sexual exploitation.