Ex-Georgia school vendor sentenced in AI child exploitation case
Ronald Richardson. Courtesy of DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A 49-year-old Gilmer County man will serve 40 years in prison after using artificial intelligence to alter photos of local minors into child sex abuse material, according to prosecutors.
Judge sentences Gilmer County man in AI exploitation case
A Gilmer High School student reported Richardson to a school resource officer in 2024. The student told authorities Richardson, who worked as a school vendor, asked her to send him pictures.
What we know:
Cobb County Senior Judge Grant Brantley sentenced Ronald Richardson to 60 years with 40 years in confinement and the remainder on probation on Wednesday.
Richardson was convicted of 118 counts of sexual exploitation of children during an August bench trial after investigators found altered images and videos of area children on his electronic devices, according to officials.
The investigation began in December 2024 when a Gilmer High School student told a school resource officer that Richardson, a vendor refilling campus drink machines, asked her for photos on social media.
Deputies arrested Richardson in January 2025 and searched his home, car, and digital devices, unearthing hundreds of illicit files, according to the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office.
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What we don't know:
Authorities have not released the specific online applications or bots Richardson used to alter the images.
What's next:
Upon his eventual release from custody, Richardson must register as a sex offender as a mandatory condition of his sentence.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney, who detailed the investigation and sentencing details, as well as court records from the bench trial.