A 52-year-old Rockton man is facing 10 criminal counts after investigators say he shared and possessed AI-generated child sexual abuse material depicting two minors, and a search of his home turned up two firearms. Jason Bottensek was charged with five counts of dissemination and five counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, along with two weapons offenses, following an investigation that began with a tip from a national child-safety clearinghouse.
According to MyStateline, the case traces back to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which forwarded a cyber tip about suspected child sexual abuse material uploaded through a messaging platform to the Illinois attorney general's office. Investigators said they linked Bottensek to an online account allegedly distributing AI-generated explicit images depicting minors, and prosecutors allege the account contained conversations in which altered images and videos depicting two minors were shared with other users.
How Investigators Allegedly Traced the Account
According to court documents, investigators traced the account to an email address allegedly associated with Bottensek. The outlet's report notes that the alleged files were created using artificial intelligence to manipulate existing photographs of the children, rather than generated from scratch. Authorities obtained a search warrant for Bottensek's account and later executed a search warrant at his home on Wednesday.
During that search, investigators reported finding two firearms inside the residence, leading to the two weapons charges, which allege aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon without a valid firearm owner's identification card. Court records indicate that several of the allegations involve a victim under age 13, per the same account. The investigation also reportedly involved interviews with family members as authorities worked to identify the minors.
A Surge in AI-Generated Abuse Material Nationally
Bottensek's case lands amid a dramatic rise in reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material nationwide. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says it received more than 400,000 CyberTipline reports involving generative artificial intelligence in 2025, with more than 182,000 of those involving offenders possessing, generating or attempting to generate such material. The organization has identified more than 275 victims of AI-generated abuse material and categorized over 158,000 images and videos as AI-generated since it began tracking the issue in 2023.
Other estimates of the scale vary. NBC News has reported that NCMEC received more than 1 million reports related to generative AI between January and September of 2025, while the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary has put the 2025 total at 1.5 million reports with a generative-AI nexus, including 1.1 million it said contained no actionable information. According to NBC News, reports of child exploitation tied to generative AI jumped more than 600% in the first six months of 2025 compared with 2023 and 2024 combined, citing Homeland Security Investigations. The outlet notes that such material can be made either by altering real photographs of children or by generating entirely new explicit imagery, and that law enforcement officials increasingly find AI-generated files mixed in with troves of traditional abuse material featuring real children.
Legal Questions Still Unsettled in Illinois
Cases like Bottensek's are unfolding as courts continue to work out exactly how existing laws apply to AI-generated material. In nearby Rock Island County, 36-year-old Bjorn Z. Boydston became the first person there charged with AI-generated CSAM-related counts, facing 10 charges involving alleged obscene depictions of a purported child under 13; he pleaded not guilty, according to WQAD. That report also noted a Seventh Circuit ruling the state's attorney said protects private possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material in the home under federal law, even as dissemination charges were upheld — a distinction that could matter in cases alleging both possession and sharing.
Federal cases elsewhere show how severe the penalties can be. Steven Anderegg was arrested in May 2024 and federally charged with using an AI image generator to create thousands of explicit images of minors, as reported by WCNC. NBC News also identified 36 state and federal criminal cases across 22 states brought over the prior three years involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material, including one in which a defendant who used AI to digitally alter clothed images of minors into sexually explicit material was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
