A 70-year-old Farmington man, Joel Kerbrat, has admitted in federal court that he used artificial-intelligence software to generate sexualized images of children and that he failed to register online accounts tied to that activity. His guilty plea follows a July 2024 home visit from a federal probation officer that prosecutors say led investigators to seize his electronic devices for a deep forensic search. Kerbrat is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15.
According to KMOV / First Alert 4, Kerbrat pleaded guilty to one count of failing to update his sex-offender registration and admitted that he did not list social-media accounts and other internet identifiers he used while promoting AI-generated child sexual abuse material. Prosecutors said the admission came during a change-of-plea hearing in federal court in St. Louis. The Eastern District of Missouri docket lists the case as USA v. Joel Kerbrat, No. 4:25-cr-00274-SEP, and the court calendar shows a March change-of-plea hearing for the matter.
Kerbrat’s name is already familiar to authorities. He was convicted in 2010 of possessing child pornography and placed on lifetime supervised release that, among other conditions, requires him to register his internet identifiers. The Missouri sex-offender registry, maintained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, lists Joel Andre Kerbrat with a birthdate that matches the federal filings.
What investigators say they found
Prosecutors say a routine probation visit in July 2024 turned into something far more serious. A probation officer reported seeing a laptop running an AI image program and a profile for an AI-generated teenage girl inside Kerbrat’s home, which led officers to seize his devices for forensic examination, as reported by KMOV / First Alert 4. The forensic review, according to prosecutors, uncovered an unregistered Discord account, a LiveChat account and an email address tied to activity in a Discord group that discussed and promoted AI-generated pornographic images. Investigators say Kerbrat admitted using the AI program to produce images that depicted child pornography.
Charges and penalties
Kerbrat pleaded guilty to a federal failure-to-register charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2250, which makes it a crime to knowingly fail to update required sex-offender registration information. The statute carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison. For the statute text and penalty framework, see Cornell Law School. Court records state that Kerbrat is set to be sentenced on June 15.
A growing enforcement focus
Federal prosecutors have been increasingly vocal about treating AI-generated sexual imagery as a serious target for enforcement. In November, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas announced that a Topeka man received a 25-year sentence after using AI tools to manufacture child sexual abuse material, and the Eastern District of Missouri has brought similar cases, including one against a Webster Groves defendant who admitted using AI-powered apps in a CSAM case, according to U.S. Attorney press releases.
What’s next
Kerbrat remains on supervised release as he awaits his June 15 sentencing. The plea, and what investigators say they uncovered on his devices, highlight a growing challenge for law enforcement: AI systems that can churn out realistic but synthetic abuse imagery without a physical victim. Court filings and local reporting lay out the timeline of Kerbrat’s case, and prosecutors have pointed to such prosecutions as part of a broader effort to crack down on online child exploitation in the age of rapidly evolving technology.
