A 44-year-old Des Plaines man is being held in Cook County Jail after investigators say a forensic search of his desktop computer turned up more than 70 files of child sexual abuse material, including images allegedly altered using artificial intelligence. Adam Bakker was taken into custody following a search warrant executed at his home in the 1400 block of East Oakton Street, capping a months-long investigation by the Cook County Sheriff's Police Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.
The case began on February 27, 2026, when the unit opened an investigation based on tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, according to Journal & Topics. Investigators traced an IP address used to upload suspected files to a cloud-based service back to the Oakton Street residence, and confirmed the uploaded files contained sexually explicit images of children, per the same account. Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced the charges against Bakker, per the sheriff's own announcement.
Investigators obtained search warrants for electronic and internet service providers before executing the search warrant at Bakker's home on September 1, 2026, according to Lawndale News. During that search, investigators took a desktop computer, and later learned that Bakker had downloaded child pornography from the internet and used AI to alter the images, the outlet reports. He was read his Miranda rights and taken into custody.
Charges Filed and First Court Appearance
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved one felony count of possession of child sexual abuse material and one felony count of obscene depiction of a purported child against Bakker on September 2, 2026, ahead of his first court appearance the following day, per the Patch report on the case, filed by Patch. Bakker appeared at the Skokie courthouse on September 3, 2026, where he was ordered into Cook County Jail custody. As with all defendants, Bakker is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Legal Framework Behind the AI Charge
The obscene depiction of a purported child charge stems from Illinois statute 720 ILCS 5/11-20.4, which defines a purported child as a visual representation depicting someone indistinguishable from an actual minor under 18 — a standard that applies regardless of whether a real child was photographed, according to the statutory language reviewed by researchers. That provision traces back to legislation Governor JB Pritzker signed in August 2024, initiated by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, which clarified that state child pornography laws cover imagery created or altered with artificial intelligence, per the Illinois Attorney General's Office.
Federal prosecutors can also pursue charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A when AI-generated or computer-altered material is transmitted or stored via cloud services across state lines, according to Garfinkel Criminal Law. That federal exposure is notable given that the material in Bakker's case was allegedly uploaded to a cloud-based service.
A National Surge in AI-Generated Abuse Reports
Bakker's arrest arrives amid what the U.S. Secret Service describes as an explosive rise in generative AI child sexual abuse material reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline — from 4,700 in 2023 to 67,000 in 2024, and surpassing 400,000 in 2025, according to the United States Secret Service. Separate data attributed to NCMEC puts the year-over-year jump between 2023 and 2024 at 1,325 percent. Data from the WeProtect Global Alliance is also mentioned in discussions of synthetic media.
As of August 2026, 46 U.S. states had enacted laws specifically targeting the creation or distribution of explicit deepfakes or computer-generated explicit imagery depicting minors, according to Ballotpedia. Illinois's own statutory update is part of the legal framework described above. The Bakker case underscores how Chicago-area law enforcement agencies are pursuing these cases as the technology behind them evolves.
