Charlotte Man Sentenced To 6 ½ Years For Possessing AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Images And Child Sexual Abuse Material

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte man was sentenced to 78 months in prison today for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), some of which was AI-generated, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, U.S. District Judge Matthew E. Orso ordered Daniel Joseph Broadway, 54, to serve a lifetime of supervised release, to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison, and to pay $17,000 in special assessments and $15,000 in restitution.

“Child sexual abuse material is harmful in all of its forms, and my office has the experience, expertise, and resolve to keep up with the technology as criminals use new methods to exploit children,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “Using AI to generate harmful imagery of children is illegal and we will aggressively prosecute those who do so.”

According to court documents and court proceedings, in April 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cybertip that an individual later identified as Broadway was uploading CSAM to an online account. In December 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Broadway’s residence, seizing nine electronic devices. A forensic review of the devices revealed that they contained more than 30,000 images and videos of AI-generated CSAM and over 8,600 images and videos of CSAM. The forensics further showed that Broadway used an AI platform to generate original images of CSAM, including images depicting prepubescent minors. He further used the AI platform to nudify existing images of real people.

In sentencing Broadway, Judge Orso said, “Congress has observed that child pornography is a permanent record of a child’s abuse,” and “those wounds get ripped back open” every time people view the content depicting their abuse.

On April 23, 2025, Broadway pleaded guilty to possession and access with intent to view child pornography involving a prepubescent minor who had not attained 12 years of age, and obscene visual representations of sexual abuse of children involving a prepubescent minor who had not attained 12 years of age. Broadway is in federal custody and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prison upon designation of a federal facility.

The case was investigated by the FBI in Charlotte and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This 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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.