A Farmington, Missouri man admitted on Feb. 25 to failing to register social media accounts he used to promote artificial intelligence-generated child sexual abuse material.
Joel Kerbrat, 70, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of failing to update his registration as a sex offender. Kerbrat was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2010 and was placed on supervised release for life after serving his prison sentence. As part of his supervision, he was required to register all internet identifiers, including social media accounts.
According to court documents, a federal probation officer visited Kerbrat’s home on July 18, 2024, and found a laptop and cell phone in plain view. The officer discovered an AI image generation program on the laptop and a profile for an AI-generated teenage girl. Kerbrat admitted using the program to create images depicting child pornography. A forensic examination revealed unregistered accounts on Discord and LiveChat as well as an unregistered email address.
Investigators found that Kerbrat participated in a Discord group where members discussed and promoted the production of AI-generated pornographic images. He also used a website hundreds of times to create AI images of child pornography, including visiting pages titled “build a preteen.”
As part of his plea agreement, Kerbrat admitted creating 52 images containing child sexual abuse material involving depictions of prepubescent girls, 251 images described as “potential CSAM” involving teenage girls, hundreds of nude images depicting children, and thousands depicting adult pornography.
Kerbrat is scheduled for sentencing on June 15 for both the current offense and violating his supervised release conditions. The charge carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Probation Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section aimed at combating online child exploitation.
