"A Pennsylvania man was sentenced yesterday to 14 years and seven months in prison for possessing deepfake child sexual abuse material (CSAM) depicting numerous child celebrities. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on two separate occasions, James Smelko, 57, of Pittsburgh, possessed and accessed pictures that digitally superimposed the faces of child actors onto nude bodies and bodies engaged in sex acts. Smelko possessed the pictures at his home in Pittsburgh. After law enforcement discovered the pictures during a search of Smelko’s computer, he was charged for possessing CSAM. While pending trial, Smelko was found to have violated his conditions of pretrial release by again accessing such images after incriminating web searches and images were detected by court-mandated monitoring software installed on his cell phone."
"Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan for the Western District of Pennsylvania; and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office made the announcement."
"The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office investigated the case."
"Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Mitchell for the Western District of Pennsylvania prosecuted the case."
This case highlights the ongoing efforts to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse through initiatives like Project Safe Childhood, which aims to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.