David Williams, a 45-year-old resident of Charlotte, has been sentenced to 140 months in prison for transporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This was announced by Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following his release from prison, Williams will be subject to lifetime supervised release and is required to register as a sex offender.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Charlotte Division and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. Special Agent Robert M. DeWitt and Chief Johnny Jennings joined U.S. Attorney King in announcing the sentencing.
“Williams possessed thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, yet his criminal conduct did not end there,” stated U.S. Attorney King. She further explained that Williams created recordings of a minor without consent and used artificial intelligence technology to alter images of children found online to produce CSAM.
Court documents revealed that law enforcement became aware of Williams’s activities through information provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Initially denying possession of CSAM during an interview on September 14, 2021, Williams eventually admitted to it and surrendered some electronic devices. A forensic examination uncovered images and videos depicting child sexual abuse.
On September 16, 2021, a search warrant was executed at Williams's residence where additional electronic devices were seized. Forensic analysis confirmed these contained over 4,000 videos and images of CSAM, including content involving toddlers. The investigation also found that Williams had used an AI chatbot to create realistic CSAM by altering internet-sourced images of minors.
Williams pleaded guilty on June 12, 2023, to transportation of child pornography charges. He remains in federal custody awaiting transfer to a designated federal facility.
U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr., upon sentencing Williams, remarked on the gravity of the crime: “this is a serious crime with serious consequences.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes prosecuted this case under Project Safe Childhood—a Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation nationwide since May 2006.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.