A former Austin ISD teacher has admitted in federal court to stockpiling a staggering cache of child sexual abuse material, including images that investigators say he generated with artificial intelligence using photos of his own students. Prosecutors say some of those classroom images were digitally altered to remove clothing. The defendant, 51-year-old Carl David Innmon, taught fifth grade at Baranoff Elementary and now faces up to 20 years in prison.
What federal authorities say they found
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, a digital forensic review uncovered more than 16,000 files of child sexual abuse material on Innmon's laptop, plus another 349,728 files on an external hard drive seized from his home. Thousands of those files involved prepubescent minors, federal officials said. The guilty plea was entered in Austin federal court on Jan. 6, after an investigation assisted by the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
BitTorrent trail and search warrant
Federal court records and local coverage state that investigators tracked a series of BitTorrent downloads between Dec. 29, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025, that contained 126 files of child sexual abuse material. Three of those files allegedly showed an infant and two girls between the ages of four and seven, according to FOX 7 Austin. In late February, a subpoena connected an IP address used in those downloads to a computer tied to Innmon. Investigators then executed a search warrant at his home and seized a smartphone, a laptop, and a portable hard drive. Local reports say Innmon had previously worked as a substitute teacher at roughly 20 Austin ISD campuses before taking a full-time fifth-grade position at Baranoff.
AI-altered photos of students
Federal filings, as described by the U.S. Attorney's Office, allege that some of the seized files were AI-generated images created from real classroom photos, then digitally manipulated to sexualize students, including by removing their clothing. With help from Austin ISD and AISD Police, investigators with Texas DPS identified children in those images as students at Innmon's school. The case is being prosecuted under Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative that coordinates federal, state, and local efforts against online child exploitation.
Federal plea, possible sentence and state charges
Innmon was initially indicted on federal counts of receipt and possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to the possession charge, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, with the final punishment to be determined by a judge. Separate state charges remain active in Travis County, including alleged possession of 50 or more images and promotion of lewd material. A pretrial hearing in the state case was scheduled for Jan. 14, though that timeline could shift in light of the federal plea, according to FOX 4 News. Bond and release conditions reported by local outlets include limits on contact with minors and on internet access.
District response and wider fallout
Austin ISD officials say they cooperated with law enforcement and placed Innmon on administrative leave last spring when they were first notified of the investigation. Hoodline previously reported earlier indictment coverage in the case. Local reporting also noted that a Texas Senate bill that would specifically criminalize AI-generated child sexual abuse material was under consideration earlier this year, according to FOX 7 Austin. Prosecutors say the FBI and Texas DPS continue to work investigative leads, and no federal sentencing date has been set.
