CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS
A child psychiatrist in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for using artificial intelligence (AI) to create child pornography and secretly recording his 15-year-old cousin while she took a shower, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in West. District of North Carolina.
David Tatum, 41, created the AI images by altering photographs of ex-girlfriends with sexually explicit images of minors he had obtained online. Tatum digitally altered images of a school dance and a photograph commemorating the first day of school to make them sexually explicit, prosecutors said.
Tatum viewed more than 1,000 child pornography title files, all of which contained the phrase «PTHC,» which stands for «preteen hard core.»
David Tatum, pictured, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for using artificial intelligence (AI) to create child pornography and secretly recording his 15-year-old cousin while she took a shower. (Mecklenburg County)
He possessed child pornography from 2016 to 2021, according to court documents viewed by News21USA News Digital.
The pervert also secretly recorded his 15-year-old cousin while she undressed in a bathroom to shower at a family vacation home in Maine.
Tatum also surreptitiously recorded other family members, including more minors, undressing and showering in the bathroom, according to court documents.
According to trial evidence, Tatum made similar surreptitious recordings of other people, including his patient, who had just turned 18 five days earlier.
Tatum was convicted in May of one count of production of child pornography, one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. His sentence will be followed by 30 years of supervised release for sexual exploitation of a minor and use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create images of child pornography of minors.
Aerial view of Charlotte, North Carolina, on a clear day, showing the roads and skyline and Bank of America Stadium. David Tatum worked as a child psychiatrist in North Carolina. He has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. (isions of America/Joseph Sohm/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Tatum was also ordered to pay a special assessment totaling $99 and an additional special assessment of $100 per conviction count.
After being released from prison, Tatum will be required to register with the Sex Offender Registration Board in any state or jurisdiction where he works or resides, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina said.
Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said Tatum’s crimes were even more damning considering his profession as a child psychiatrist.
«Tatum knew the harmful and lasting impact that sexual exploitation has on the well-being of victimized children,» King said. «Regardless, he engaged in the depraved practice of using secret recordings of his victims to create illicit images and videos of them.»
Tatum, King said, used artificial intelligence to victimize children.
[The] The 40-year sentence underscores our efforts to do everything possible to bring justice to child victims. «As the field of artificial intelligence advances, my office is committed to prosecuting predators who seek to exploit this technology to inflict harm on children.»
A doctor using AI on a laptop. Child psychiatrist David Tatum has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for using artificial intelligence to create child pornography. (iStock)
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Robert DeWitt, special agent in charge of the FBI in North Carolina, echoed King’s sentiments.
«It’s horrible to believe that someone would secretly record children undressing and showering for their own sexual gratification,» DeWitt said.
«And when the evidence shows that person is a doctor charged with helping children in difficult mental health situations, it is unconscionable. The FBI will never stop working to put predators like Tatum behind bars for a long time.»
